Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Trims Stock Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,903,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 412,564 shares during the period. Baker Hughes comprises about 1.2% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $769,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKR. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 786.5% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BKR. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup cut their price target on Baker Hughes from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Capital One Financial lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Baker Hughes currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.14.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. The trade was a 24.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.36, for a total value of $11,494,200.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 784,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,734,051.84. This represents a 18.77% 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. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKR opened at $61.52 on Wednesday. Baker Hughes Company has a 12 month low of $37.38 and a 12 month high of $70.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $61.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.93.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.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 earned $0.51 EPS. Baker Hughes’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is 29.39%.

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.