Cardinal Capital Management Acquires 1,518 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Cardinal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 7.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the quarter. Cardinal Capital Management owned approximately 0.07% of Badger Meter worth $3,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Badger Meter by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,603 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its position in Badger Meter by 1.8% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,956 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Badger Meter by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Badger Meter by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Badger Meter by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,476,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 89.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Maxim Group boosted their target price on Badger Meter from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com lowered Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Badger Meter from $147.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Badger Meter from $151.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Badger Meter from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.80.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

NYSE:BMI traded up $1.84 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $186.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 115,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 181,548. The company has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.81. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.06 and a 12 month high of $202.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.63.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $196.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.25 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 20.26%. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Badger Meter’s payout ratio is presently 31.12%.

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.