Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.9091.

BAX has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Baxter International in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th.

Institutional Trading of Baxter International

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAX. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,436 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,588,000 after buying an additional 1,604 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $19,666,000 after buying an additional 18,439 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $231,304,000 after buying an additional 97,687 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 24,356 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 4,293 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 53,933 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Baxter International Stock Down 0.2%

BAX opened at $19.35 on Thursday. Baxter International has a twelve month low of $15.73 and a twelve month high of $32.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.76. The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of -9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.62.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Baxter International will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is -1.88%.

About Baxter International

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company’s primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter’s offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.