Jag Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 890 Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

Jag Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 890 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BMI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,448,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Badger Meter during the first quarter worth $44,715,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 25.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,891 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $120,027,000 after purchasing an additional 129,945 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 1,451.3% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 134,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,630,000 after acquiring an additional 126,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 1,239.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 128,961 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $24,535,000 after acquiring an additional 119,333 shares in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BMI. Weiss Ratings lowered Badger Meter from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Badger Meter from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $224.00 price objective on Badger Meter in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $237.00.

Badger Meter Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:BMI opened at $177.47 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $181.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.07. The stock has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.90. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.17 and a fifty-two week high of $256.08.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02). Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The firm had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

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

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.