Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) to Issue $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Badger Meter has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 32 years. Badger Meter has a dividend 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 $207.44 on Wednesday. Badger Meter has a one year low of $150.87 and a one year high of $239.11. The company has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.43.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BMI shares. Maxim Group upped their price objective 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 increased their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.75.

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.