Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Decreases Holdings in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its Baker Hughes stake by 35.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 28,232 shares and leaving it with 50,379 shares valued at about $2.29 million.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on Baker Hughes, with 18 Buy ratings, three Holds, and one Sell; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a price target of $69.41.
• Baker Hughes reported Q1 earnings of $0.58 per share, beating estimates, while revenue came in slightly below expectations at $6.59 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, implying a 1.4% yield.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its position in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 35.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,379 shares of the company's stock after selling 28,232 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $2,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 1,242.5% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 537 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 344.1% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 840 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $65,000. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BKR. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered Baker Hughes from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Baker Hughes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Johnson Rice began coverage on Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.41.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 1.5%

Baker Hughes stock opened at $65.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $65.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.13. Baker Hughes Company has a one year low of $35.83 and a one year high of $70.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.66 and a 200 day moving average of $56.11.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.Baker Hughes's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio is 29.39%.

Insider Transactions at Baker Hughes

In other news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total value of $298,919.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $918,367.20. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total value of $16,025,801.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. This trade represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 550,250 shares of company stock valued at $32,988,331. Corporate 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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