Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Position Cut by State Street Corp

State Street Corp reduced its holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,465,264 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 51,675 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 4.98% of Badger Meter worth $320,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Badger Meter by 1,016.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 201 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 805 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Badger Meter during the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Badger Meter Stock Up 2.9 %

BMI opened at $234.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a PE ratio of 58.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.16. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.50 and a fifty-two week high of $238.06.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.03). Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The company had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BMI. Maxim Group increased their price target on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Badger Meter currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.75.

Badger Meter 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.