Apollon Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Apollon Wealth Management increased its Baker Hughes stake by 421.8% in the first quarter, ending with 145,134 shares valued at about $8.86 million.
• Baker Hughes reported Q1 EPS of $0.58, topping estimates, though revenue of $6.59 billion came in slightly below expectations; analysts still rate the stock Moderate Buy with an average target of $69.14.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, while insiders have sold shares recently, including CEO Lorenzo Simonelli, who sold stock under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 421.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,134 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 117,321 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $8,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKR. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 344.1% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Baker Hughes currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.14.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKR opened at $56.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $55.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.65. 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 Company has a 1-year low of $37.69 and a 1-year high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. The business 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%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total transaction of $10,599,844.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This trade represents a 20.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 367,910 shares of company stock valued at $22,420,797. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes 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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