Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $65.00 to $70.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Baker Hughes traded as high as $67.00 and last traded at $64.83, with a volume of 10385063 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $65.26.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $59.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zephirin Group upped their price target on Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.61.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total value of $1,032,537.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 19,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $1,131,956.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,588 shares in the company, valued at $862,296.68. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,001 shares of company stock worth $2,322,692. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 648,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,850,000 after purchasing an additional 49,108 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the third quarter valued at $1,920,000. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 13.6% during the 3rd 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. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 10,225.3% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 849,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after acquiring an additional 841,338 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 2.7%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.08. The firm has a market cap of $60.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly 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 company 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 firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid 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 currently 35.38%.

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.