Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BKR. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Argus raised their price target on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Capital One Financial upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Baker Hughes Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Baker Hughes stock opened at $56.60 on Monday. Baker Hughes has a 1 year low of $41.15 and a 1 year high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $56.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.85.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total value of $10,599,844.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares in the company, valued at $41,102,232.92. This trade represents 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 sold 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,005.1% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 49,353,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,247,550,000 after purchasing an additional 44,887,481 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth $1,022,491,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Baker Hughes by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,635,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,896,000 after buying an additional 4,278,573 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 12,983.5% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,491,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,994,000 after buying an additional 3,464,637 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter valued at $144,262,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.