Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

BKR has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Baker Hughes from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Baker Hughes in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Baker Hughes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ BKR opened at $55.15 on Monday. Baker Hughes has a one year low of $39.47 and a one year high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.96.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total value of $326,751.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total value of $10,599,844.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 703,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. This represents a 20.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.0% during the second quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 100,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,419,000 after buying an additional 4,804 shares during the period. Tema ETFs LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 10.7% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 25,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Baker Hughes by 7.2% in the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 40,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,729 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in Baker Hughes by 0.8% in the second quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 156,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,699,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS boosted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 15.3% in the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 6,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.