Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 96,959 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,135,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Baxter International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baxter International during the third quarter worth $27,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Baxter International during the second quarter worth $46,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Baxter International during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 552.2% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,413 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,043 shares during the period. 90.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Baxter International from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup raised Baxter International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.45.

Baxter International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAX opened at $26.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $23.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.45. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $30.00. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a PE ratio of -12.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Baxter International’s payout ratio is -1.93%.

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.