Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Trims Stock Holdings in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its holdings in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 35.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,232 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $2,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $778,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,755,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,813,000 after purchasing an additional 309,996 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,147,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,234,000 after purchasing an additional 367,728 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 829,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,429,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 10,225.3% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 849,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 841,338 shares in the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BKR. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered Baker Hughes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.41.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $65.80 on Friday. Baker Hughes Company has a fifty-two week low of $35.83 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.11. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total value of $16,025,801.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. This represents a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total value of $298,919.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,555 shares in the company, valued at $918,367.20. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 550,250 shares of company stock worth $32,988,331 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.