Clearline Capital LP Boosts Stake in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Clearline Capital LP increased its Baker Hughes stake by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 224,770 shares valued at about $10.2 million.
• Analysts have turned more bullish on BKR, with several firms raising price targets; the stock currently carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average target price of $69.14.
• Baker Hughes beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, posting EPS of $0.58 versus the expected $0.49, while revenue rose 2.5% year over year and the company continued paying a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share.

Clearline Capital LP increased its position in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 224,770 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 50,185 shares during the period. Clearline Capital LP's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $10,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,884 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 5,722 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 42,679 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 7,341 shares of the company's stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BKR. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Argus upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.14.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of BKR stock opened at $60.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $59.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.19. Baker Hughes Company has a 12-month low of $37.38 and a 12-month high of $70.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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 business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 stock was 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes Company 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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