Baird Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group increased its Baker Hughes stake by 341% during the second quarter, adding 565,947 shares to own 731,926 shares valued at approximately $40.6 million.
• Institutional investors own 92.06% of Baker Hughes, while CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares for roughly $10.6 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $70.67 price target. Baker Hughes also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.64 EPS and $6.74 billion in revenue.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 341.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 731,926 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 565,947 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Baker Hughes worth $40,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the first quarter valued at $6,049,000. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,317,478 shares of the company's stock worth $59,998,000 after buying an additional 64,323 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,892,101 shares of the company's stock worth $86,230,000 after buying an additional 37,473 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 679,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,625,000 after acquiring an additional 41,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 367.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 199,621 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,187,000 after acquiring an additional 156,881 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total value of $10,599,844.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,102,232.92. The trade was a 20.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKR. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Baker Hughes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Baker Hughes in a research report on Friday, August 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.67.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKR opened at $63.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $63.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company's 50-day moving average is $60.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.61. Baker Hughes Company has a 12-month low of $43.92 and a 12-month high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.68%.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company NASDAQ: BKR is an energy technology company that provides products, services and digital solutions for the energy and industrial sectors. Its offerings support the exploration, development, production, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas, as well as broader energy and industrial operations.

The company's portfolio includes oilfield services and equipment, drilling and completion technologies, artificial lift systems, subsea production solutions, turbomachinery, compressors, gas technology and liquefied natural gas equipment.

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