Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) Shares Sold by Oak Ridge Investments LLC

Oak Ridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,679 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $2,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the fourth quarter valued at about $223,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Badger Meter by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,523,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new position in Badger Meter in the 4th quarter worth approximately $385,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Badger Meter by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 63,406 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,450,000 after buying an additional 4,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Badger Meter during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $203.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price objective on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.00.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

BMI stock opened at $215.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $218.65 and its 200 day moving average is $209.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of 53.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.79. Badger Meter, Inc. has a one year low of $139.50 and a one year high of $239.11.

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

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.