Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

BKR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Capital One Financial increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.95.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

Shares of BKR stock opened at $61.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Baker Hughes has a 12-month low of $41.96 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.12 and a 200-day moving average of $60.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.97.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Sunday, July 26th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 11.17%.The business had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.68%.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total transaction of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,327.34. This represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total transaction of $10,599,844.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This represents a 20.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EFG International AG bought a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 344.1% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 49.0% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Baker Hughes Company Profile

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.