First Trust Advisors LP Grows Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 315,375 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 1,285 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.07% of Badger Meter worth $66,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 41,462 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $8,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in Badger Meter by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 16,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,565,000 after buying an additional 1,363 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,780 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $11,984,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seeds Investor LLC grew its position in Badger Meter by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Seeds Investor LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BMI. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Badger Meter from $209.00 to $196.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Badger Meter from $238.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $31,395.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,051 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total value of $240,571.78. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,949 shares of company stock valued at $4,398,407 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Badger Meter Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of Badger Meter stock opened at $208.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 49.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $198.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $209.93. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.17 and a 12-month high of $239.11.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.22. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. The company had revenue of $222.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

Badger Meter Company Profile

Badger Meter, Inc manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions worldwide. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities market. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives.

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