Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 19,848 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,848 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $73,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Badger Meter by 4.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Badger Meter during the second quarter valued at about $1,704,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Badger Meter by 228.2% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 5,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $577,000. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Badger Meter Stock Performance

BMI opened at $216.36 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.50 and a twelve month high of $230.76. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.69, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $215.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.61.

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

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.