Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 91 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 162.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 147 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $31,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Badger Meter in the 4th quarter worth $20,586,000. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its position in Badger Meter by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 12,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its position in Badger Meter by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 117,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $24,839,000 after acquiring an additional 42,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 500,946 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $106,261,000 after purchasing an additional 7,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Maxim Group boosted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Badger Meter from $209.00 to $196.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $251.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $222.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $240,571.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,640.24. This trade represents a 18.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total transaction of $31,395.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,949 shares of company stock valued at $4,398,407. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Badger Meter Trading Up 9.8 %

Shares of BMI opened at $201.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 47.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.84. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.17 and a 1-year high of $239.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.23.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $222.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.39 million. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.15%.

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.