Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New $220,000 Investment in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,538 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 97,990 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,874,000 after purchasing an additional 9,054 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 99.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,371 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 8,179 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 2,625 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 140.5% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 273,900 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,987,000 after purchasing an additional 160,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 148.8% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 870,601 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $25,387,000 after purchasing an additional 520,633 shares in the last quarter. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Baxter International from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Argus raised shares of Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Baxter International from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Baxter International in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.25.

Baxter International Stock Performance

BAX opened at $31.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.75, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.16 and a 200 day moving average of $31.81. Baxter International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.25 and a fifty-two week high of $40.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.14. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 5.05% and a positive return on equity of 16.67%. The business had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Baxter International’s payout ratio is currently -61.82%.

About Baxter International

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.