Guinness Asset Management LTD Decreases Stake in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Guinness Asset Management cut its Baker Hughes stake by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,391 shares and ending with 126,556 shares valued at about $5.74 million.
• Baker Hughes reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.58 per share on revenue of $6.59 billion, with revenue up 2.5% year over year. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.31 per share for the full year.
• The stock has received generally positive analyst support, with 18 Buy ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, though insider selling and mixed brokerage views show some caution.

Guinness Asset Management LTD reduced its position in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,556 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,391 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $5,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,890,075 shares of the company's stock worth $6,035,924,000 after buying an additional 598,159 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 7.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 47,546,388 shares of the company's stock worth $2,316,462,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,709 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 7.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 25,903,241 shares of the company's stock worth $1,262,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728,016 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Baker Hughes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 17,316,358 shares of the company's stock worth $843,653,000 after acquiring an additional 638,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the third quarter worth approximately $729,670,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Baker Hughes Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ BKR opened at $66.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.18. Baker Hughes Company has a 52-week low of $36.03 and a 52-week high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.Baker Hughes's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 earnings per share 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 1.4%. Baker Hughes's payout ratio is presently 29.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BKR. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research cut Baker Hughes from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. iA Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Baker Hughes in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Johnson Rice began coverage on Baker Hughes in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Baker Hughes has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total value of $298,919.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $918,367.20. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 550,250 shares of company stock valued at $32,988,331 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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