Baxter International Inc. $BAX Shares Purchased by Fiduciary Alliance LLC

Key Points

• Fiduciary Alliance LLC nearly doubled its Baxter International stake in the first quarter, increasing holdings by 95.6% to 258,062 shares worth about $4.54 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall: Baxter has a consensus rating of “Reduce” with an average target price of $19.73, though some firms recently adjusted targets and ratings upward or downward.
• Baxter reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.36 per share on revenue of $2.70 billion, and the company also announced a small quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share.

Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - Free Report) by 95.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 258,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after buying an additional 126,104 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC's holdings in Baxter International were worth $4,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Baxter International by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,436 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Baxter International by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $19,666,000 after acquiring an additional 18,439 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Baxter International by 1.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $231,304,000 after purchasing an additional 97,687 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in Baxter International by 21.4% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 24,356 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Baxter International by 5.5% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 53,933 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares in the last quarter. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on BAX shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Baxter International from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Evercore lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Baxter International from $20.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Baxter International in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $19.73.

Baxter International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAX opened at $21.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.64. Baxter International Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.73 and a twelve month high of $31.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 currently -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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