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

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually 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. Equities 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

BMI opened at $210.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 52.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $214.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.40. Badger Meter has a twelve month low of $139.50 and a twelve month high of $230.76.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $208.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BMI. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Badger Meter from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.