Boston Trust Walden Corp Decreases Stock Position in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Boston Trust Walden Corp trimmed its position in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 249,390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 0.85% of Badger Meter worth $46,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BMI. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Badger Meter during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Badger Meter during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 2,633.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 615 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $180.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $175.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Badger Meter has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $184.20.

Badger Meter Price Performance

NYSE BMI traded down $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $199.98. 171,564 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 180,601. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.52. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12-month low of $134.06 and a 12-month high of $210.29. The firm has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $216.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.39 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is an increase from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.12%.

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.