Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Position in Badger Meter, Inc. $BMI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 11.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 618 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BMI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the first quarter worth $65,448,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the first quarter worth $44,715,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Badger Meter by 21,179.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 167,040 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,779,000 after purchasing an additional 166,255 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 valued at $120,027,000 after purchasing an additional 129,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Badger Meter by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 182,382 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,687,000 after purchasing an additional 95,966 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $284.00 to $264.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $224.00 price target on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.40.

Badger Meter Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BMI opened at $182.39 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.17 and a twelve month high of $256.08. The company has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.65.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $235.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Increases Dividend

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