Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $59.6087.

A number of research firms recently commented on BKR. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Baker Hughes from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Baker Hughes from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 19,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total value of $1,131,956.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 14,588 shares in the company, valued at $862,296.68. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 590,251 shares of company stock worth $35,311,023. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,022,491,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $729,670,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,635,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,896,000 after acquiring an additional 4,278,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 12,983.5% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,491,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,994,000 after acquiring an additional 3,464,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Stock Up 0.6%

Baker Hughes stock opened at $61.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Baker Hughes has a fifty-two week low of $33.60 and a fifty-two week high of $67.00.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.09 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.38%.

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.