Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Susquehanna

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) had its price target trimmed by Susquehanna from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a positive rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on BKR. TD Cowen increased their price target on Baker Hughes from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Baker Hughes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Baker Hughes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.14.

Baker Hughes Stock Up 5.8%

Shares of NASDAQ BKR opened at $57.61 on Wednesday. Baker Hughes has a 52-week low of $38.37 and a 52-week high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $57.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.05.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.29 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. The trade was a 20.50% 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 quarter, insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Baker Hughes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.