Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $19.93 and traded as high as $27.97. Baxter International shares last traded at $27.84, with a volume of 8,306,778 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Baxter International from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Baxter International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Baxter International from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $22.45.

Baxter International Trading Down 2.4%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a PE ratio of -13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.60.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.19. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.27% and a positive return on equity of 16.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Baxter International has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.950-2.150 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.93%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baxter International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAX. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Baxter International by 3.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,436 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Baxter International by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $19,666,000 after buying an additional 18,439 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Baxter International by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $231,304,000 after acquiring an additional 97,687 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Baxter International by 21.4% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 24,356 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Baxter International by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 53,933 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

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.