Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 840 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $2,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMI. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Badger Meter during the fourth quarter worth approximately $767,000. Cardinal Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 22,009 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,669,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1,129.9% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,408 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,117,000 after purchasing an additional 17,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Badger Meter by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,486 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,133,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on BMI. Maxim Group increased their price objective on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.75.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

BMI opened at $207.44 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $214.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 49.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.78. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.87 and a 52 week high of $239.11.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. Equities analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.15%.

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.