Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Raises Dividend to $0.34 Per Share

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This is a positive change from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Badger Meter has a payout ratio of 28.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $4.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.6%.

Badger Meter Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE BMI opened at $205.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.76. Badger Meter has a 52 week low of $134.06 and a 52 week high of $210.29.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.09. The firm 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%. The company’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 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Badger Meter will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.