Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stock Position in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. sharply increased its Baker Hughes stake by 3,260.3% in the fourth quarter, ending with 571,995 shares valued at about $26.0 million. Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 92.06% of the stock.
• Wall Street sentiment on Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) is generally positive, with 18 Buy ratings, three Hold ratings, and one Sell rating. The consensus view is a Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $69.18.
• Baker Hughes reported earnings per share of $0.58 for the latest quarter, beating estimates, while revenue came in slightly below expectations at $6.59 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, equal to a 1.4% annualized yield.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 3,260.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 571,995 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 554,973 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned about 0.06% of Baker Hughes worth $26,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,242.5% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 537 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 840 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the third quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 23.5% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,421 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BKR. Argus upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Baker Hughes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.18.

Insider Activity

In other Baker Hughes news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $918,367.20. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 550,250 shares of company stock worth $32,988,331 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Baker Hughes Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ 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 52-week low of $35.83 and a 52-week high of $70.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.39 and a 200 day moving average price 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 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. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.39%.

About Baker Hughes

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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