LSV Asset Management Sells 214,807 Shares of Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management reduced its Baxter stake by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 214,807 shares. The firm still held 4.31 million shares valued at about $82.3 million, or 0.84% of the company.
• Wall Street sentiment remains cautious on Baxter, with several analysts cutting price targets and the consensus rating at “Reduce.” The average target price is $19.91, with more Hold and Sell ratings than Buy ratings.
• Baxter posted a better-than-expected quarter, reporting $0.36 EPS on $2.70 billion in revenue, both above estimates. The company also announced a small quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share, yielding about 0.2% annually.

LSV Asset Management lessened its holdings in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,307,693 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 214,807 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned 0.84% of Baxter International worth $82,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BAX. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Baxter International by 3.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,436 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Baxter International by 2.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $19,666,000 after purchasing an additional 18,439 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Baxter International by 1.3% in 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 in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in Baxter International by 21.4% during the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 24,356 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 4,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Baxter International by 5.5% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 53,933 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,633,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BAX shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Baxter International from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Baxter International from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Baxter International in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price target on Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $19.91.

Baxter International Trading Up 0.8%

Baxter International stock opened at $19.19 on Friday. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $32.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.01, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The company's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Baxter International's payout ratio is presently -1.88%.

Baxter International News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Baxter International this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Baxter’s shares are showing signs of a technical bottoming pattern after a steep healthcare-sector selloff, which could attract short-term buyers looking for a rebound. Baxter Stock Is Testing a Bottom After Healthcare Sector Decimation
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Zacks Research raised some near- and medium-term earnings estimates, including Q1 2028, Q4 2026, and Q2 2027, suggesting expectations for parts of Baxter’s earnings outlook are improving.
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite those higher estimates in a few periods, Zacks still maintains a “Strong Sell” rating on Baxter, so the broader analyst stance remains cautious.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks also cut estimates for several key periods, including Q2 2026, Q3 2026, FY2026, Q3 2027, and FY2027, reinforcing concerns that earnings momentum may remain uneven.
• Negative Sentiment: The latest round of revisions keeps Baxter’s FY2026 forecast below the current consensus, which may weigh on sentiment if investors focus on softer near-term profitability.

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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