SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Position in Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 137.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,612 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in Badger Meter by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 7,562 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Badger Meter during the second quarter worth about $297,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in Badger Meter by 5.6% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 6,753 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Badger Meter by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 876,519 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $215,464,000 after buying an additional 19,340 shares during the period. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Badger Meter in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $251,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMI has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Badger Meter from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $229.00 target price on shares of Badger Meter and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Badger Meter from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $208.00 to $215.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research raised Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $205.00 price objective on Badger Meter and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

Badger Meter Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of BMI stock opened at $177.89 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.17 and a 12-month high of $256.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $179.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.52. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.94.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.12% and a net margin of 15.40%.The business had revenue of $235.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

About Badger Meter

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.