North Dakota State Investment Board Takes Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 34,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,549,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Krilogy Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 5,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Formidable Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 7,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.7% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 6,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. iA Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.18.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total value of $298,919.52. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,555 shares in the company, valued at $918,367.20. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at $50,938,242.76. This represents a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 550,250 shares of company stock worth $32,988,331 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Baker Hughes stock opened at $65.47 on Wednesday. Baker Hughes Company has a 12-month low of $35.83 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $64.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.86.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

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.