Marathon Asset Management Ltd Sells 23,515 Shares of Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Marathon Asset Management reduced its Baker Hughes stake by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 23,515 shares and leaving it with 241,979 shares valued at about $11.0 million.
• Several insiders also sold shares, including CEO Lorenzo Simonelli, who sold 272,594 shares in March; insiders have sold 550,250 shares over the past 90 days.
• Baker Hughes reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $0.58, while analysts remain mostly bullish with 18 Buy ratings and an average target price of $69.18.

Marathon Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 241,979 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,515 shares during the quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $11,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,938,242.76. This trade represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction of $298,919.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 have sold a total of 550,250 shares of company stock valued at $32,988,331 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

Shares of BKR opened at $65.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.97. Baker Hughes Company has a twelve month low of $35.83 and a twelve month high of $70.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.39 and a 200-day moving average of $55.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Johnson Rice initiated coverage on Baker Hughes in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. 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. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. iA Financial set a $60.00 target price on Baker Hughes in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.18.

Baker Hughes 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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