Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys 9,339 Shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 29.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,102 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 9,339 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $8,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Badger Meter by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,674,493 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $594,570,000 after buying an additional 22,707 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 14.9% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,081 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 2,633.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Badger Meter by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 32,474 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Badger Meter in the 1st quarter worth approximately $644,000. 89.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Maxim Group raised 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Badger Meter from $189.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.75.

Badger Meter Stock Up 1.1 %

Badger Meter stock opened at $219.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $214.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.78. Badger Meter, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.50 and a 52 week high of $230.76.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $208.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.08 million. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.80% and a return on equity of 21.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Badger Meter, Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

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.