Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on BKR. Argus boosted their price target on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Capital One Financial upped their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.95.

Baker Hughes Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKR opened at $59.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.96. Baker Hughes has a 1 year low of $41.96 and a 1 year high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.25.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Sunday, July 26th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 11.17%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total value of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,027,327.34. This represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. This trade represents a 20.50% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 100,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,419,000 after purchasing an additional 4,804 shares in the last quarter. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 10.7% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 25,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.2% during the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 40,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,729 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.8% during the second quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 156,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 15.3% during the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 6,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.