Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Baxter International in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Baxter International in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Baxter International from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Baxter International from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Argus downgraded Baxter International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baxter International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAX. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Baxter International in the third quarter worth approximately $143,186,000. Dodge & Cox raised its position in Baxter International by 10.1% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 57,396,370 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,306,915,000 after acquiring an additional 5,274,750 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,515,928 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,243,000 after acquiring an additional 615,100 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Baxter International by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,200,860 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,114,000 after acquiring an additional 450,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Baxter International by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,882,960 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $388,416,000 after acquiring an additional 326,652 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Baxter International Stock Performance

BAX stock opened at $19.50 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Baxter International has a 12-month low of $17.40 and a 12-month high of $37.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of -29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.59.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.09. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 17.38% and a negative net margin of 3.09%.The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Baxter International has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.520-0.570 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 2.350-2.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Baxter International will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -6.06%.

Baxter International Company Profile

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company’s primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter’s offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.