Farther Finance Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 67.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,542 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in Badger Meter by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 363,164 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $77,034,000 after buying an additional 68,137 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Badger Meter by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 350,378 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $74,322,000 after buying an additional 12,180 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Badger Meter by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 335,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $71,083,000 after buying an additional 23,606 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in Badger Meter by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 212,024 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $44,975,000 after buying an additional 4,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Badger Meter by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 195,423 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,931,000 after buying an additional 16,067 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Maxim Group raised their price objective on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.75.

Insider Activity at Badger Meter

In other Badger Meter news, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $240,571.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $31,395.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Badger Meter Stock Down 2.7 %

BMI stock opened at $196.50 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.18 and a 52-week high of $239.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.63.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is currently 32.15%.

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.