Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Given New $71.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on Baker Hughes to $71.00 (from $68) and kept an "outperform" rating, implying roughly a 1.95% upside from the stock's current price.
• Analyst consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $67.27, based on 19 Buy ratings and 2 Hold ratings from covering firms.
• Baker Hughes beat EPS expectations with $0.58 vs. $0.49 estimated but missed revenue ($6.59B vs. $6.71B), and the stock traded around $69.64—near its 52-week high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price indicates a potential upside of 1.95% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on BKR. Capital One Financial raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Baker Hughes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Baker Hughes has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $67.27.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Baker Hughes stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $69.64. 1,401,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,632,242. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.90. Baker Hughes has a fifty-two week low of $34.56 and a fifty-two week high of $70.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.78. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion for 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%.Baker Hughes's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. This trade represents a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 1,985 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.77, for a total value of $110,703.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 12,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $672,140.04. The trade was a 14.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 590,251 shares of company stock worth $35,311,023. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,890,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,035,924,000 after buying an additional 598,159 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,409,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,796,586,000 after buying an additional 937,614 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,005.1% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 49,353,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,247,550,000 after buying an additional 44,887,481 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 47,546,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,316,462,000 after buying an additional 3,153,709 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,213,363 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,189,194,000 after buying an additional 204,534 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

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.

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