Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Increases Stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 29.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,903 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 13,982 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE owned approximately 0.21% of Badger Meter worth $12,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 8,033 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 81.3% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $73,866,000 after purchasing an additional 19,848 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Badger Meter by 67.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 37,976 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,294,000 after buying an additional 15,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 8.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,544 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Badger Meter news, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $240,571.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Bockhorst sold 16,073 shares of the company’s 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 $3,371,151.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,332,720.14. This represents a 31.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,949 shares of company stock valued at $4,398,407. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on BMI shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $218.75.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Shares of BMI stock opened at $194.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 45.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 1 year low of $151.18 and a 1 year high of $239.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.77.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. Equities research analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. 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.