Baxter International Inc. $BAX Shares Bought by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 16,776.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,743,975 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,721,791 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $89,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Baxter International during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,744,874,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baxter International during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,392,098,000. Equity Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Baxter International in the 2nd quarter worth $146,815,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Baxter International during the 2nd quarter worth about $132,993,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Baxter International by 6.8% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,522,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $84,529,000 after buying an additional 223,126 shares in the last quarter. 90.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Baxter International in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Baxter International from $19.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Baxter International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Baxter International from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.27.

Baxter International Trading Up 0.1%

Baxter International stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.77. The company had a trading volume of 4,491,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,506,119. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Baxter International Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.73 and a 1-year high of $30.00. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.68.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 6.23% and a positive return on equity of 16.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 27th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is presently -2.84%.

Baxter International Profile

Baxter International is a global healthcare company that develops and supplies products used in hospitals, clinics and other care settings. Its offerings include intravenous solutions and administration sets, infusion pumps, medication-delivery systems, and products for surgical and hospital care. The company also provides patient-monitoring and connected-care technologies, including products associated with Hillrom, which Baxter acquired in 2021. Its products and services support healthcare professionals and patients in countries around the world.