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

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend by an average of 17.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Badger Meter has a payout ratio of 24.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $5.38 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 25.3%.

Badger Meter Stock Performance

NYSE BMI opened at $217.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $216.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.25. Badger Meter has a 52-week low of $150.87 and a 52-week high of $239.11. The company has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of 51.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Badger Meter from $184.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Maxim Group increased their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Badger Meter presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $218.75.

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.