Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Lowers Stake in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Artisan Partners trimmed its Baker Hughes stake by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 16.9 million shares valued at about $769.8 million.
• Several analysts turned more bullish on Baker Hughes, with firms including BMO, HSBC, JPMorgan, and TD Cowen raising price targets; the stock now carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $69.14.
• Baker Hughes reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $0.58 versus $0.49 estimated, and it recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, or $0.92 annualized for a 1.5% yield.

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,903,794 shares of the company's stock after selling 412,564 shares during the period. Baker Hughes accounts for about 1.2% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 1.71% of Baker Hughes worth $769,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BKR. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 40.8% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 83,650 shares of the company's stock worth $3,676,000 after buying an additional 24,225 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 5.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 18,481 shares of the company's stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the second quarter worth $2,301,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 4.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 46,407 shares of the company's stock worth $1,779,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the second quarter worth $1,014,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Friday, April 24th. HSBC increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total value of $326,751.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. This represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.36, for a total value of $11,494,200.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 784,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,734,051.84. This represents a 18.77% 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. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of BKR stock opened at $61.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 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. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.18 and a 200 day moving average of $58.12. Baker Hughes Company has a 1 year low of $37.38 and a 1 year high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given 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 1.5%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

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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