Praxis Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Praxis Investment Management cut its Baker Hughes stake by 20.3% in Q4, selling 15,504 shares and finishing with 60,776 shares worth about $2.77 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently, including CEO Lorenzo Simonelli's sale of 272,594 shares (~$16.03M) and a total of 569,400 shares sold by insiders in the last 90 days valued at $34.12M.
• Analyst sentiment remains largely positive: 19 analysts rate BKR a Buy (vs. 2 Holds and 1 Sell), several firms raised price targets, and the average target is $68.64 (consensus: Moderate Buy).

Praxis Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,776 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,504 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $2,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKR. Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $729,670,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 47,546,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,316,462,000 after buying an additional 3,153,709 shares during the period. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter valued at about $119,078,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 9,325,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $454,334,000 after buying an additional 1,906,384 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 7.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,728,016 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 19,150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $1,131,956.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 14,588 shares in the company, valued at $862,296.68. The trade was a 56.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the business'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 value of $16,025,801.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,938,242.76. This represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 569,400 shares of company stock valued at $34,120,287 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. HSBC lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Baker Hughes from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.64.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

Shares of BKR opened at $66.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $66.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.09 and a 200-day moving average of $54.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Baker Hughes Company has a 52 week low of $35.83 and a 52 week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 11.17%.The business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is 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%.

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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