Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 71,142 Shares of Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 22.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,374 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 71,142 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $4,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BAX. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in Baxter International by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 10,693,223 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $204,347,000 after buying an additional 4,404,874 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Baxter International by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 57,396,370 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,306,915,000 after buying an additional 5,274,750 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Baxter International by 477.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,725,251 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $32,970,000 after buying an additional 1,426,547 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Baxter International by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,510,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $257,174,000 after acquiring an additional 972,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in shares of Baxter International by 95.6% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 258,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,542,000 after acquiring an additional 126,104 shares during the period. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Baxter International Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BAX traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.64. 3,102,254 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,951,147. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.62. Baxter International Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.73 and a 1 year high of $29.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.73 and a 200 day moving average of $19.23.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 9.70%.The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BAX shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Baxter International in a research note on Friday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Baxter International from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Baxter International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Evercore decreased their target price on Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $19.73.

About Baxter International

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company’s primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter’s offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.