Badger Meter, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:BMI)

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Badger Meter has a dividend payout ratio of 27.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

NYSE BMI opened at $216.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.81, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.55. Badger Meter has a one year low of $139.50 and a one year high of $230.76.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results 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). Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The firm had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Badger Meter will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BMI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Maxim Group raised their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $214.75.

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.