Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 5,385 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 37.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,667 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,385 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $4,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 20.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 39,142 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,549,000 after purchasing an additional 6,732 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Badger Meter by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Badger Meter by 29.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,615,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Badger Meter in the third quarter worth approximately $3,373,000. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Badger Meter in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total transaction of $31,395.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,980,638.63. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Karen M. Bauer sold 1,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total transaction of $240,571.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,640.24. The trade was a 18.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Badger Meter Trading Down 6.5 %

NYSE:BMI opened at $172.82 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 12 month low of $151.18 and a 12 month high of $239.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.85, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.91.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 21.77% and a net margin of 15.12%. Equities analysts predict that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Badger Meter’s payout ratio 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.