New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 500 Shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its holdings in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 2.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,861 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAX. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 50,377,294 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,469,002,000 after purchasing an additional 5,779,100 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in Baxter International in the 4th quarter valued at $72,450,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Baxter International by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,745,709 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $50,904,000 after buying an additional 502,370 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its stake in Baxter International by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 1,327,946 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $45,456,000 after buying an additional 457,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Baxter International by 11,821.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 387,689 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $13,271,000 after buying an additional 384,437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BAX. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Baxter International from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.50.

Baxter International Price Performance

Shares of Baxter International stock opened at $28.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.24. Baxter International Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.25 and a twelve month high of $40.49. The firm has a market cap of $14.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.61.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.14. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 4.71% and a positive return on equity of 17.24%. The business had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is currently -61.82%.

Baxter International Company Profile

Baxter International Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops and provides a portfolio of healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies, Pharmaceuticals, and Kidney Care. The company offers sterile intravenous (IV) solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition therapies; generic injectable pharmaceuticals; surgical hemostat and sealant products, advanced surgical equipment; smart bed systems; patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies; and respiratory health devices, as well as advanced equipment for the surgical space, including surgical video technologies, precision positioning devices, and other accessories.