Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI Shares Purchased by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,917 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 507 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 acquiring an additional 129,945 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Badger Meter by 2.1% during the second quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 407,059 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $99,709,000 after acquiring an additional 8,471 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Badger Meter during the first quarter worth about $65,448,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 2.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 305,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $58,034,000 after acquiring an additional 8,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 1.7% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 291,637 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $55,484,000 after acquiring an additional 4,807 shares during the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Badger Meter Stock Performance

Shares of BMI opened at $178.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.90. Badger Meter, Inc. has a one year low of $162.17 and a one year high of $256.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $181.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.58.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $238.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $235.38 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 21.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

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

Badger Meter Company Profile

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.