Bank of New York Mellon Corp Decreases Holdings in Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,623,255 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 396,247 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $44,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAX. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Baxter International by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,510,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $257,174,000 after acquiring an additional 972,891 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Baxter International by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $231,304,000 after purchasing an additional 97,687 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,410,689 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $65,216,000 after purchasing an additional 894,761 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,328,202 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $63,602,000 after purchasing an additional 356,612 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 2.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $19,666,000 after buying an additional 18,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Baxter International Stock Performance

BAX opened at $22.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.52, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.62. Baxter International Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.73 and a 1-year high of $29.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Baxter International’s payout ratio is presently -1.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Baxter International from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Baxter International from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $19.91.

Baxter International Company Profile

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.