Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 144.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,680 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,398 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $1,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 83,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,676,000 after buying an additional 24,225 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 18,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 61.7% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 854 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 27.2% in the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 11,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 2,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 430,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,379,000 after purchasing an additional 10,335 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Baker Hughes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. iA Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $59.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $59.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.69 and its 200-day moving average is $48.55. Baker Hughes Company has a 12-month low of $33.60 and a 12-month high of $62.27.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.11. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The business had revenue of $7.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Baker Hughes’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is presently 35.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Baker Hughes news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 843 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.34, for a total transaction of $47,494.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,830.46. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total value of $1,032,537.67. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,001 shares of company stock valued at $2,322,692. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes is an energy technology company that provides a broad portfolio of products, services and digital solutions for the oil and gas and industrial markets. Its offerings span oilfield services and equipment — including drilling, evaluation, completion and production technologies — as well as turbomachinery, compressors and related process equipment used in midstream and downstream operations. The company also supplies aftermarket services, field support and integrated solutions designed to improve asset performance and uptime across the energy value chain.

The firm’s roots trace back to the merger of Baker International and Hughes Tool Company, and more recently it combined with GE’s oil and gas business in 2017 to form Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE); subsequent changes in ownership restored Baker Hughes as an independent publicly traded company.