Gotham Asset Management LLC Sells 271 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Gotham Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Badger Meter by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 5,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after buying an additional 2,595 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Badger Meter by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 82,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $17,529,000 after buying an additional 29,164 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in Badger Meter by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 192,598 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,854,000 after acquiring an additional 49,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 235.7% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,581 shares during the period. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BMI. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $209.00 to $196.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Maxim Group upped their target price on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Badger Meter from $218.00 to $216.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Badger Meter from $238.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.80.

Insider Transactions at Badger Meter

In other news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $31,395.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Bockhorst sold 16,073 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $3,371,151.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,332,720.14. This represents a 31.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,949 shares of company stock valued at $4,398,407. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Badger Meter Price Performance

Badger Meter stock opened at $245.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $203.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.88. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.17 and a 1 year high of $249.65.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.22. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.12% and a return on equity of 21.77%. The firm had revenue of $222.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is 29.96%.

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.