Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Earns “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 price objective on the stock.

BKR has been the topic of several other reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Baker Hughes from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Baker Hughes from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.12.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKR opened at $37.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.38. Baker Hughes has a 52 week low of $28.32 and a 52 week high of $39.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 7.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Analysts predict that Baker Hughes will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is presently 46.93%.

Insider Transactions at Baker Hughes

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 114,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $4,000,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 502,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,571,855. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,364,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,729,000 after buying an additional 4,207,973 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,898,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,074,000 after acquiring an additional 680,621 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 8.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,723,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,801,000 after acquiring an additional 692,859 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Baker Hughes by 3.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,274,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,005,000 after purchasing an additional 248,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Baker Hughes by 10.2% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,609,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,405,000 after purchasing an additional 612,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. The company operates through Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) and Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segments. The OFSE segment designs and manufactures products and provides related services, including exploration, appraisal, development, production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning for onshore and offshore oilfield operations.