Swedbank AB Sells 71,367 Shares of Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Swedbank AB decreased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 712,719 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71,367 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.07% of Baker Hughes worth $43,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Baker Hughes by 1,005.1% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 49,353,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,247,550,000 after purchasing an additional 44,887,481 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,022,491,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $729,670,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Baker Hughes by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,635,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,896,000 after buying an additional 4,278,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 12,983.5% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,491,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,994,000 after buying an additional 3,464,637 shares in the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKR opened at $57.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.05. Baker Hughes Company has a twelve month low of $38.37 and a twelve month high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.29 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BKR. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Baker Hughes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.14.

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.