Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 49,100 Shares of Baker Hughes Company $BKR

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co cut its Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) stake by 16.5%, selling 49,100 shares in Q4 and leaving it with 248,729 shares valued at about $11.33 million.
• Company insiders have sold heavily recently — CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares and another insider sold 19,150, with insiders disposing of 569,400 shares (~$34.12 million) over the last three months, leaving insider ownership at just 0.19%.
• Analysts are bullish: multiple firms raised price targets (HSBC to $85, BMO to $80, Stifel to $74), the consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $68.64, and Baker Hughes recently beat Q1 EPS estimates ($0.58 vs. $0.49) and declared a $0.23 quarterly dividend (1.4% yield).

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its stake in shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Free Report) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,729 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,100 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $11,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,242.5% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 537 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 661 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 840 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 357.8% in the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BKR shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $64.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Baker Hughes presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.64.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In related news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 19,150 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $1,131,956.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 14,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $862,296.68. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of Baker Hughes 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 569,400 shares of company stock worth $34,120,287. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKR opened at $67.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $67.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $62.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.59. Baker Hughes Company has a one year low of $35.83 and a one year high of $70.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. Baker Hughes's revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 5th. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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