Vest Financial LLC Buys 318,762 Shares of Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,061,256 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 318,762 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $51,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Baker Hughes by 8.2% in the second quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 648,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,850,000 after purchasing an additional 49,108 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,920,000. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,434,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in Baker Hughes by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,450,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,607,000 after buying an additional 8,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Baker Hughes by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,800,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,026,000 after purchasing an additional 144,381 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.04.

Baker Hughes Trading Up 2.9%

BKR opened at $52.73 on Wednesday. Baker Hughes Company has a one year low of $33.60 and a one year high of $52.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $52.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.30.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 10.43%.The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Baker Hughes’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

About Baker Hughes

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.