Insider Selling: Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Sells 272,594 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider selling: CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares on March 11 at an average of $58.79 for $16.03M and had sold 272,593 shares on March 4 at $61.13 for $16.66M — about $32.7M of stock sold in early March, reducing his stake by ~23.9% to 866,444 shares.
• Company outlook and performance: Baker Hughes beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.78 vs. $0.67; revenue $7.39B vs. $7.09B), has a market cap of ~$53.6B, a dividend yield of ~1.7%, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $59.61.

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 866,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. This represents a 23.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Lorenzo Simonelli also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,593 shares of Baker Hughes stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.13, for a total transaction of $16,663,610.09.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of BKR stock traded down $1.64 on Friday, reaching $54.26. The stock had a trading volume of 17,459,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,790,979. Baker Hughes Company has a 12 month low of $33.60 and a 12 month high of $67.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's 50-day moving average is $57.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.09 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 9.33%.The business's revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes's dividend payout ratio is 35.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. iA Financial set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.61.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BKR. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake 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 period. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Baker Hughes by 344.1% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 661 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.06% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.