Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $59.84 and last traded at $59.55, with a volume of 8808197 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $58.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BKR shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Baker Hughes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $59.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.30.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $58.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $50.30 and its 200-day moving average is $47.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 9.33%.The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.34, for a total transaction of $47,494.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,830.46. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $1,032,537.67. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 20,851 shares of company stock valued at $1,190,736 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 648,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,850,000 after purchasing an additional 49,108 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the third quarter worth $1,920,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 23.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 458,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,334,000 after acquiring an additional 88,536 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,434,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Baker Hughes by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,800,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,026,000 after purchasing an additional 144,381 shares during the period. 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.