Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) Price Target Raised to $23.00

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

BAX has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Baxter International from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Baxter International from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Baxter International in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Baxter International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baxter International presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.27.

Baxter International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAX opened at $26.37 on Monday. Baxter International has a twelve month low of $15.73 and a twelve month high of $30.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.53 and its 200 day moving average is $21.61.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.06. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 6.23% and a positive return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Baxter International will post 2.10 EPS for the current year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 27th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is -2.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Baxter International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Baxter International in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,744,874,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Baxter International during the second quarter worth about $1,392,098,000. Equity Investment Corp acquired a new position in shares of Baxter International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $146,815,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Baxter International in the 2nd quarter valued at $132,993,000. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 16,776.9% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 3,743,975 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $89,855,000 after purchasing an additional 3,721,791 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

About Baxter International

Baxter International is a global healthcare company that develops and supplies products used in hospitals, clinics and other care settings. Its offerings include intravenous solutions and administration sets, infusion pumps, medication-delivery systems, and products for surgical and hospital care. The company also provides patient-monitoring and connected-care technologies, including products associated with Hillrom, which Baxter acquired in 2021. Its products and services support healthcare professionals and patients in countries around the world.