Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 3,170 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its stake in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,024 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,170 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Badger Meter were worth $7,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,204 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in Badger Meter by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Badger Meter by 1.1% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,312 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,211 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BMI. Maxim Group upped their price target on 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 upped their target price on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “hold” 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Badger Meter currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.75.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BMI opened at $189.36 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.77, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. Badger Meter, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $151.18 and a fifty-two week high of $239.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $213.75.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is 32.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 2,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.33, for a total value of $508,157.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,986,475.67. This represents a 14.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Bockhorst sold 1,165 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total transaction of $247,131.45. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,162,280.60. This represents a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.