Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Holdings in Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon reduced its Baxter International stake by 13.1% in the first quarter, selling 396,247 shares and leaving it with about 2.62 million shares valued at roughly $44.1 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Goldman Sachs raised its price target to $21, while Citigroup downgraded Baxter to sell and cut its target to $17. Overall, the stock carries a consensus rating of “Reduce” with an average target price of $19.91.
• Baxter reported Q1 earnings above expectations, posting EPS of $0.36 versus estimates of $0.31 and revenue of $2.70 billion, up 2.9% year over year. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.01, equivalent to an annual yield of about 0.2%.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,623,255 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 396,247 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.51% of Baxter International worth $44,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 60,475 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,016,000 after acquiring an additional 13,562 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Baxter International by 95.6% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 258,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $4,542,000 after purchasing an additional 126,104 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its position in shares of Baxter International by 99.1% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 111,858 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $2,245,000 after purchasing an additional 55,674 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Baxter International by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 15,968 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Baxter International by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,410,689 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $65,216,000 after purchasing an additional 894,761 shares in the last quarter. 90.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on BAX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup cut shares of Baxter International from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Baxter International from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $19.91.

Baxter International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAX opened at $22.40 on Friday. Baxter International Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.73 and a twelve month high of $29.35. The firm has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.52, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.70 and a 200 day moving average of $19.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 9.70%.The business had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Baxter International's payout ratio is -1.88%.

Baxter International Profile

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company's primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter's offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.

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