Korea Investment CORP Reduces Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake by 10.6%, selling 92,325 shares in Q3 and ending the period with 779,086 Baker Hughes shares (about 0.08%) valued at roughly $37.96 million.
• Baker Hughes beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.78 vs $0.67; revenue $7.39B vs $7.09B), prompting multiple analyst price-target raises and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Significant insider selling and high institutional ownership: insiders sold 312,594 shares (~$19.0M) last quarter while institutional investors own about 92.06% of the stock.

Korea Investment CORP decreased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 10.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 779,086 shares of the company's stock after selling 92,325 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.08% of Baker Hughes worth $37,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,502 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Baker Hughes by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 9,325,417 shares of the company's stock worth $454,334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,384 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. Trustmark Bank Trust Department grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trustmark Bank Trust Department now owns 52,599 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 6.7% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 243,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,868,000 after purchasing an additional 15,200 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of BKR stock opened at $60.10 on Tuesday. Baker Hughes Company has a 52-week low of $33.60 and a 52-week high of $67.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $59.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.49.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 9.33%.The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Baker Hughes's revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 1,985 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.77, for a total transaction of $110,703.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,052 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $672,140.04. This represents a 14.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 19,150 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $1,131,956.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 14,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,296.68. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 312,594 shares of company stock valued at $18,986,302 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BKR shares. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zephirin Group raised their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $59.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Johnson Rice began coverage on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.61.

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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