Pacer Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - Free Report) by 36.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,057 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 14,914 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Baxter International were worth $892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAX. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Baxter International by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 50,377,294 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,469,002,000 after purchasing an additional 5,779,100 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Baxter International by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,745,709 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $50,904,000 after purchasing an additional 502,370 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 623,403 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $21,339,000 after acquiring an additional 147,155 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 248.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,326 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 8,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of Baxter International in the 4th quarter worth $2,193,000. Institutional investors own 90.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BAX. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Baxter International from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Baxter International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Baxter International from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Baxter International from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Baxter International from $33.00 to $24.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.13.

Baxter International Price Performance

Shares of Baxter International stock traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $21.97. The stock had a trading volume of 22,646,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,544,769. Baxter International Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.33 and a 1 year high of $40.49. The company has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The business's 50 day moving average is $29.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.03.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.82 billion. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 1.42% and a positive return on equity of 16.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Baxter International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -226.67%.

About Baxter International

Baxter International Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops and provides a portfolio of healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies, Pharmaceuticals, and Kidney Care. The company offers sterile intravenous (IV) solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition therapies; generic injectable pharmaceuticals; surgical hemostat and sealant products, advanced surgical equipment; smart bed systems; patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies; and respiratory health devices, as well as advanced equipment for the surgical space, including surgical video technologies, precision positioning devices, and other accessories.