Baxter International Inc. $BAX Shares Bought by Fiduciary Alliance LLC

Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 95.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,104 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $4,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Baxter International by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 57,396,370 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,306,915,000 after buying an additional 5,274,750 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,510,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $257,174,000 after acquiring an additional 972,891 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 10,693,223 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $204,347,000 after acquiring an additional 4,404,874 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 1.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $231,304,000 after acquiring an additional 97,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Baxter International by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,410,689 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $65,216,000 after acquiring an additional 894,761 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Baxter International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Citigroup downgraded Baxter International from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Evercore reduced their price target on Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $19.73.

Baxter International Stock Up 4.9%

BAX stock opened at $21.08 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.64. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $31.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.88%.

Baxter International Company Profile

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company’s primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter’s offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.