Insider Selling: Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Sells $11,494,200.96 in Stock

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.36, for a total transaction of $11,494,200.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 784,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,734,051.84. This represents a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ BKR opened at $58.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Baker Hughes Company has a 52-week low of $37.38 and a 52-week high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS 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 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is 29.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKR has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Capital One Financial raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 40.8% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 83,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,676,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Baker Hughes by 5.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 18,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Baker Hughes during the second quarter worth about $2,301,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 46,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in Baker Hughes in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,014,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.