Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.4091.

BKR has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. iA Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zephirin Group boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $66.06 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.00 and its 200-day moving average is $56.37. Baker Hughes has a 12-month low of $36.03 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $65.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Baker Hughes will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is 29.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. This represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction of $298,919.52. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,555 shares in the company, valued at $918,367.20. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 550,250 shares of company stock worth $32,988,331 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,932,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,967,000 after acquiring an additional 11,297 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $356,000. BankChampaign National Association bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $989,000. Groupe la Francaise increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 73,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after acquiring an additional 6,655 shares during the period. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 1st quarter worth $10,620,000. Institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.