Swiss National Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 7.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,895,920 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 195,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $176,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EFG International AG acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Baker Hughes by 344.1% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. The trade was a 20.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total transaction of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. The trade was a 24.13% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock valued at $22,420,797. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

BKR stock opened at $55.95 on Monday. Baker Hughes Company has a one year low of $38.97 and a one year high of $70.41. The firm has a market cap of $55.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is 29.39%.

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.