Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Short Interest Up 5.7% in July

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the July 15th total of 1,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 173,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Badger Meter

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,674,493 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $594,570,000 after buying an additional 22,707 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 397,614 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $61,380,000 after purchasing an additional 100,304 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 7.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 337,391 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $62,873,000 after purchasing an additional 22,160 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Badger Meter by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,720 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,127,000 after purchasing an additional 74,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Badger Meter in the 4th quarter valued at $47,359,000. 89.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Badger Meter Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE BMI opened at $203.26 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.58, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. Badger Meter has a 12 month low of $134.06 and a 12 month 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.09. The business 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 was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.19%.

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.