Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,884 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $1,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BMI. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 2,633.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 46.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 499 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Badger Meter by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Badger Meter during the 1st quarter worth $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BMI shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.75.

Badger Meter Stock Up 0.8 %

BMI opened at $207.66 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.06 and a 52 week high of $230.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $209.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.07. The firm has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.77.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is an increase from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is 39.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Badger Meter news, VP Kimberly K. Stoll sold 1,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $224,885.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $791,505. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.