Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research cut Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Baxter International from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Baxter International from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $22.45.

Baxter International Price Performance

NYSE:BAX opened at $28.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. Baxter International has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $21.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.47 billion, a PE ratio of -13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.62.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.57% and a negative net margin of 9.27%.Baxter International’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Baxter International has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.950-2.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Baxter International will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.93%.

Institutional Trading of Baxter International

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAX. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Baxter International by 98.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 33,909 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 16,809 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Baxter International by 552.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,413 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Baxter International by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,709 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 35.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 1,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 0.6% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 498,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $8,366,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.