Piper Sandler Lowers Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Price Target to $71.00

Key Points

• Piper Sandler cut its price target on Baker Hughes from $72 to $71 but kept an overweight rating, implying about 23% upside from the current share price.
• Other analysts remain generally positive on the stock, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $70.09. Several firms recently raised their targets, including Argus, UBS, Barclays, Stifel, and Evercore.
• Baker Hughes reported EPS of $0.58 versus estimates of $0.49 in its latest quarter, though revenue came in slightly below forecasts at $6.59 billion. The stock was trading around $57.66, and insiders, including the CEO, have recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $72.00 to $71.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler's price target indicates a potential upside of 23.14% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BKR. Argus raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Baker Hughes from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.09.

Baker Hughes Stock Up 0.2%

Baker Hughes stock opened at $57.66 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $61.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $57.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. Baker Hughes has a 52 week low of $38.37 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Baker Hughes news, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total transaction of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.43, for a total transaction of $10,599,844.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This represents a 20.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock valued at $22,420,797 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 1,005.1% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 49,353,310 shares of the company's stock worth $2,247,550,000 after purchasing an additional 44,887,481 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,022,491,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Baker Hughes by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,635,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $529,896,000 after buying an additional 4,278,573 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Baker Hughes by 12,983.5% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,491,322 shares of the company's stock worth $158,994,000 after buying an additional 3,464,637 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $144,262,000. Hedge funds and other 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.

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