Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Northcoast Research raised shares of Badger Meter from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $148.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $111.00 price target (down from $112.00) on shares of Badger Meter in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Badger Meter and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Badger Meter from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $172.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.88.

Badger Meter Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of BMI opened at $126.61 on Friday. Badger Meter has a 12-month low of $112.09 and a 12-month high of $204.00. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.92.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $220.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.59 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 18.03%. Badger Meter’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Badger Meter will post 4.50 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Badger Meter

In other news, VP Edward Callahan acquired 751 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $135.25 per share, with a total value of $101,572.75. Following the acquisition, the vice president owned 1,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $261,979.25. This represents a 63.32% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Badger Meter

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Badger Meter during the third quarter valued at about $981,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 219.2% in the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,453 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,245,000 after buying an additional 29,152 shares during the period. Michael J. Porro & Co. Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the third quarter worth about $617,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 258,164 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,894,000 after acquiring an additional 67,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GK Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Badger Meter in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Badger Meter Company Profile

Badger Meter, Inc is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based manufacturer of flow measurement, control and communications solutions. The company primarily serves the water industry, providing technologies that help utilities and other customers measure, manage and monitor the use and movement of water.

Its products include ultrasonic, electromagnetic and mechanical water meters, as well as flow instrumentation and related control equipment. Badger Meter also offers advanced metering infrastructure and remote monitoring solutions, including its ORION and BEACON platforms, which support automated meter reading, data collection, leak detection and utility management.

Founded in 1905, Badger Meter serves municipal water utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and other water-related markets in North America and internationally.