Badger Meter, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:BMI)

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 32 years. Badger Meter has a payout ratio of 27.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

NYSE BMI traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $223.47. The company had a trading volume of 170,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,154. The business has a 50 day moving average of $210.82 and a 200-day moving average of $199.38. Badger Meter has a 1-year low of $139.50 and a 1-year high of $230.76. The company has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a PE ratio of 55.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.78.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.03). Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.56% and a net margin of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $208.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Badger Meter will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Badger Meter news, VP Kimberly K. Stoll sold 1,097 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $224,885.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $791,505. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Maxim Group lifted their target price on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.75.

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.