Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI – Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 985,500 shares, a decrease of 10.4% from the July 31st total of 1,100,000 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 118,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.3 days.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BMI shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 26th. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Friday, July 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Badger Meter from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $88.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Badger Meter has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $94.67.
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Badger Meter Trading Up 0.2 %
NYSE BMI traded up $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $94.84. 3,331 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 125,528. Badger Meter has a one year low of $73.20 and a one year high of $112.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 43.24 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $90.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.36.
Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 20th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. Badger Meter had a net
margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The company had revenue of $137.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $132.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Badger Meter Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. This is a positive change from Badger Meter's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 25th. Badger Meter's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.10%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Badger Meter
In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 2,362 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.40, for a total transaction of $227,696.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,143,400.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Badger Meter
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,991,278 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $497,681,000 after buying an additional 28,050 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,415,426 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $340,552,000 after buying an additional 22,329 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,070,197 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $167,458,000 after buying an additional 198,228 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,265,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $134,272,000 after buying an additional 65,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,010,400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $81,732,000 after buying an additional 78,363 shares in the last quarter. 86.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Badger Meter Company Profile
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Badger Meter, Inc manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, and internationally. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities.
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