Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

Zacks Research cut shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on BKR. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Baker Hughes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.09.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

BKR opened at $68.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.18. Baker Hughes has a 1 year low of $34.56 and a 1 year high of $70.41. The stock has a market cap of $68.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.90.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is presently 29.39%.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In related news, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total value of $1,032,537.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 590,251 shares of company stock worth $35,311,023 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,890,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,035,924,000 after acquiring an additional 598,159 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,409,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,796,586,000 after acquiring an additional 937,614 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,005.1% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 49,353,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,247,550,000 after buying an additional 44,887,481 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 47,546,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,316,462,000 after buying an additional 3,153,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,213,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,194,000 after buying an additional 204,534 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Company Profile

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.