Umpqua Bank Has $597,000 Stock Holdings in Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI)

Umpqua Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,845 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 562 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank’s holdings in Badger Meter were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BMI. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its stake in Badger Meter by 35.0% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 8,033 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Badger Meter by 3.8% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 45,496 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Badger Meter by 29.4% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,102 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,977,000 after purchasing an additional 9,339 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Badger Meter by 81.3% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Badger Meter by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 338,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $73,866,000 after purchasing an additional 19,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BMI shares. Maxim Group raised their target price on Badger Meter from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Badger Meter from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 148 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total transaction of $31,395.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,980,638.63. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Bockhorst sold 16,073 shares of Badger Meter stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.74, for a total value of $3,371,151.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,961 shares in the company, valued at $7,332,720.14. This trade represents a 31.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,949 shares of company stock worth $4,398,407 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Badger Meter Stock Down 3.7 %

BMI stock opened at $189.36 on Friday. Badger Meter, Inc. has a twelve month low of $151.18 and a twelve month high of $239.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $210.42 and its 200-day moving average is $213.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 44.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Badger Meter Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Badger Meter’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.15%.

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.