115,300 Shares in Baker Hughes Company $BKR Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the first quarter, purchasing 115,300 shares valued at about $7.0 million.
• Baker Hughes reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.58 per share, topping analyst estimates, though quarterly revenue came in slightly below expectations.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 115,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,039,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter worth $778,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Baker Hughes by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,755,743 shares of the company's stock worth $125,813,000 after acquiring an additional 309,996 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 5.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,147,684 shares of the company's stock worth $348,234,000 after acquiring an additional 367,728 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Baker Hughes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 17,316,358 shares of the company's stock valued at $843,653,000 after purchasing an additional 638,640 shares during the period. Finally, USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $830,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of BKR opened at $56.94 on Friday. Baker Hughes Company has a 1-year low of $37.53 and a 1-year high of $70.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.63 and a 200 day moving average of $58.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Baker Hughes's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BKR. Argus lifted their target price on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.14.

Baker Hughes News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Baker Hughes this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Baker Hughes announced a strategic agreement with Mantle Reach Power to accelerate large-scale geothermal projects across North America, expanding its energy-transition exposure and creating a potential new growth avenue. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company also secured a significant subsea production systems award from Azule Energy for Angola’s Greater PAJ development, reinforcing its backlog and core oilfield equipment/services pipeline. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and valuation-focused coverage have remained constructive overall, with multiple firms previously raising price targets and the consensus still leaning “Moderate Buy,” which can support sentiment after the recent pullback. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data showed no meaningful bearish positioning change, with reported short interest effectively at zero, so it does not appear to be a driver of the move.

Insider Buying and Selling at Baker Hughes

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total transaction of $10,599,844.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 703,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This trade represents a 20.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 Baker Hughes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total value of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 367,910 shares of company stock worth $22,420,797 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes Company Profile

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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