UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Stock

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at UBS Group from $61.00 to $69.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.28% from the stock’s current price.

BKR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Baker Hughes from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Baker Hughes from $59.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Johnson Rice initiated coverage on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Baker Hughes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.96.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKR opened at $60.38 on Thursday. Baker Hughes has a 12 month low of $33.60 and a 12 month high of $67.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.30.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Baker Hughes news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction of $298,919.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $918,367.20. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $1,032,537.67. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 590,251 shares of company stock worth $35,311,023. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKR. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter worth $1,920,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in 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 buying an additional 309,996 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in 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 buying an additional 367,728 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 13.6% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 829,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,429,000 after buying an additional 99,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the third 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 during the period. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.