Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $3.02 Million Stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,249 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,496 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $3,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BMI. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in Badger Meter by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 363,164 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $77,034,000 after purchasing an additional 68,137 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $73,866,000 after buying an additional 19,848 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Badger Meter by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 335,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $71,083,000 after buying an additional 23,606 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Badger Meter by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 331,769 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,462,000 after buying an additional 2,515 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Badger Meter by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 212,024 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $44,975,000 after acquiring an additional 4,631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BMI shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Badger Meter has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.75.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

Shares of BMI opened at $207.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.78. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.87 and a 52 week high of $239.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.40.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.15%.

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.