Investors Purchase Large Volume of Baker Hughes Put Options (NASDAQ:BKR)

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 13,753 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 322% compared to the average volume of 3,262 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.88, for a total value of $169,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $508,132.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.88, for a total value of $169,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $508,132.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.44, for a total transaction of $294,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,451 shares in the company, valued at $425,437.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 256.7% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Baker Hughes from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.94.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKR opened at $32.67 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.55. The stock has a market cap of $32.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.42. Baker Hughes has a fifty-two week low of $26.81 and a fifty-two week high of $37.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 7.62% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Baker Hughes will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is currently 43.98%.

Baker Hughes Company Profile

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. The company operates through Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) and Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segments. The OFSE segment designs and manufactures products and provides related services, including exploration, appraisal, development, production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning for onshore and offshore oilfield operations.