Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI Stock Position Lowered by Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,243 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Badger Meter by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,891 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $120,027,000 after buying an additional 129,945 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Badger Meter by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 407,059 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $99,709,000 after buying an additional 8,471 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,448,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 305,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $58,034,000 after buying an additional 8,345 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 291,637 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $55,484,000 after buying an additional 4,807 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMI has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $208.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Badger Meter from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $205.00 price target on shares of Badger Meter and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMI opened at $182.77 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $180.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.45. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.17 and a fifty-two week high of $256.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $235.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.88 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.40% and a return on equity of 21.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.86%.

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.