Legato Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 44,605 Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Legato Capital Management opened a new position in Baker Hughes, buying 44,605 shares valued at about $2.03 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional interest in BKR remains strong, with 92.06% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Analysts are broadly positive on Baker Hughes after its latest earnings beat, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average price target of $69.41.

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 44,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,031,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% during the fourth 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 period. Formidable Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.2% during the fourth 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 period. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 16.4% during the fourth 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 period. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 3.7% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 6,831 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.41.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

BKR stock opened at $66.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.18. The company has a market capitalization of $65.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. Baker Hughes Company has a 1-year low of $36.03 and a 1-year high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.4%. Baker Hughes's payout ratio is currently 29.39%.

Insider Transactions at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 550,250 shares of company stock valued at $32,988,331 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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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