Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and eighteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.4091.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BKR shares. Zacks Research downgraded Baker Hughes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Baker Hughes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 5.3%

BKR opened at $63.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $62.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Baker Hughes has a 12 month low of $36.53 and a 12 month high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

Insider Transactions at Baker Hughes

In related news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction of $298,919.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,555 shares in the company, valued at $918,367.20. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total value of $16,025,801.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at $50,938,242.76. This trade represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 550,250 shares of company stock worth $32,988,331. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter worth $778,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,755,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,813,000 after purchasing an additional 309,996 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,147,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,234,000 after purchasing an additional 367,728 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 13.6% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 829,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,429,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 10,225.3% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 849,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 841,338 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% 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.