Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) Receives $22.45 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.4545.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BAX shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Baxter International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Baxter International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Baxter International in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,744,874,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Baxter International in the second quarter valued at about $1,392,098,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,510,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $257,174,000 after purchasing an additional 972,891 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Baxter International by 1.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $231,304,000 after buying an additional 97,687 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Baxter International in the second quarter worth about $146,815,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Baxter International Price Performance

Baxter International stock opened at $25.89 on Tuesday. Baxter International has a 1 year low of $15.73 and a 1 year high of $30.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.18. The company has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.51, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95.

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

Baxter International Announces Dividend

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

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.