Zacks Research Upgrades Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) to “Hold”

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BKR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.14.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKR opened at $61.52 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.12. Baker Hughes has a 52-week low of $37.38 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 firm has a market capitalization of $61.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.93.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Baker Hughes’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Baker Hughes news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. This represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.36, for a total value of $11,494,200.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 784,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,734,051.84. This trade 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. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 344.1% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.