These 15 growing, dividend-paying tech stocks offer you the best of two worlds

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

BMI+1.17%

MSFT+1.58%

QCOM+0.91%

Source: MarketWatch

Updated: Sep 04 2024

0mins

Source: MarketWatch

Big Tech's Shift to Dividends: Major technology companies like Meta, Alphabet, and Salesforce have started paying quarterly dividends this year, indicating a shift in their financial strategies.
Nvidia's Dividend Increase: Nvidia has significantly raised its dividend by 150%, showcasing the growing trend of tech firms rewarding shareholders with dividends.

BMI

$172.13+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on BMI

Wall Street analysts forecast BMI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for BMI is 214.86 USD with a low forecast of 157.00 USD and a high forecast of 243.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

7 Analyst Rating

5 Buy

1 Hold

1 Sell

Moderate Buy

Current: 170.140

Low

157.00

Averages

214.86

High

243.00

Current: 170.140

Low

157.00

Averages

214.86

High

243.00

Barclays

William Grippin

Underweight

initiated

$157

2026-01-07

Reason

Barclays

William Grippin

Price Target

$157

AI Analysis

2026-01-07

initiated

Underweight

Reason

Barclays analyst William Grippin initiated coverage of Badger Meter with an Underweight rating and $157 price target. The firm says Badger is a "solid company with a difficult setup." The stock's premium valuation among the water technology group creates a poor risk/reward, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Barclays sees decelerating growth for the company due to a maturing market and utility funding constraints.

Jefferies

initiated

$220

2025-12-12

Reason

Jefferies

Price Target

$220

2025-12-12

initiated

Reason

Jefferies initiated coverage of Badger Meter with a Buy rating and $220 price target. Badger Meter is a leader in smart water metering and the recent slowdown in growth is due to tough comps and a higher base, not reflective of a demand slowdown, the analyst tells investors. The recent pullback provides "an attractive entry point for the name that compounds HSD organic growth," the analyst added.

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JPMorgan

Overweight

downgrade

$240 -> $235

2025-12-08

Reason

JPMorgan

Price Target

$240 -> $235

2025-12-08

downgrade

Overweight

Reason

JPMorgan lowered the firm's price target on Badger Meter to $235 from $240 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm adjusted ratings and targets in the clean energy space as part of its 2026 outlook. Within renewables, JPMorgan expects another year of outperformance for the utility-scale market, though it expects a trend towards larger, more complex projects as well as a more complex regulatory environment to lead to consolidation of upstream and downstream providers. The analyst maintains a preference for stocks with significant exposure to U.S.-based manufacturing, diversified end markets, and strong balance sheets.

RBC Capital

Jeffrey Reive

Outperform

downgrade

$264 -> $229

2025-10-22

Reason

RBC Capital

Jeffrey Reive

Price Target

$264 -> $229

2025-10-22

downgrade

Outperform

Reason

RBC Capital analyst Jeffrey Reive lowered the firm's price target on Badger Meter to $229 from $264 but keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The company reported a modestly better-than-expected Q3 with topline playing out mostly as expected, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Badger Meter's other positives included 8% organic growth, 6% sequential growth at SmartCover, core incrementals of 26%, free cash flow conversion of 136%, and an increased gross margin target to 39%-42%, the firm added, noting that with nothing overly concerning in the results, the decline was more likely due to its elevated short-interest and positioning.

About BMI

Badger Meter, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of products incorporating flow measurement, quality, control and other system solutions serving markets worldwide. Its offerings, marketed as BlueEdge, include a suite of tailorable solutions that connect water management technology, software and support services to deliver insights enabling the proactive management of water across the water cycle. Its solutions include measurement and control hardware, connectivity and communication, data visualization and software-delivered actionable insights, and ongoing support to optimize customers' operations. Its measurement and control hardware, instruments and sensors include product families, such as meters that measure the flow of water and other fluids, water quality monitoring solutions and high frequency pressure and acoustic leak detection hardware that provides real-time monitoring data. It offers a range of communication solutions including the ORION branded family of radio endpoints.

About the author

Emily J. Thompson

Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.