Wolfe Research Upgrades Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Wolfe Research upgraded Baker Hughes to “strong-buy”, adding to a broadly positive analyst backdrop for the stock. Overall, analysts now show a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target price of $70.14.
• Baker Hughes recently reported Q1 earnings of $0.58 per share, topping estimates of $0.49, while revenue rose 2.5% year over year to $6.59 billion. The company’s results also showed solid profitability metrics, including an 11.17% net margin and 14.17% return on equity.
• Despite the upbeat analyst sentiment, there has been notable insider selling: CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold shares worth about $10.6 million, and insiders have sold 367,910 shares over the last 90 days. The stock was trading at $57.61, below its 52-week high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wolfe Research to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

BKR has been the topic of several other reports. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Baker Hughes from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.14.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

BKR stock opened at $57.61 on Wednesday. Baker Hughes has a 1-year low of $38.37 and a 1-year high of $70.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.05. The company has a market capitalization of $57.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $6.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 181,411 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 703,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This trade represents a 20.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total transaction of $326,751.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 367,910 shares of company stock valued at $22,420,797. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EFG International AG acquired a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Baker Hughes by 344.1% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 604 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 49.0% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 651 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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