Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.9545.

BKR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $51.00 price objective on Baker Hughes in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

Shares of Baker Hughes stock opened at $61.55 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.65. Baker Hughes has a 12-month low of $41.96 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $61.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Sunday, July 26th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is 29.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Baker Hughes news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. This represents a 20.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EFG International AG purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 344.1% in the 4th 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 period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.