Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 on September 6th

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This is a positive change from Badger Meter’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Badger Meter has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.3% per year 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 28.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Badger Meter to earn $4.60 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 29.6%.

Badger Meter Trading Down 1.0 %

BMI opened at $201.57 on Wednesday. Badger Meter has a twelve month low of $134.06 and a twelve month high of $210.29. The stock has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 58.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average is $193.32 and its 200-day moving average is $178.58.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.09. Badger Meter had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firm had revenue of $216.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $204.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $180.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Badger Meter from $175.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four research 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $184.20.

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.