Insider Selling: Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Sells 272,593 Shares of Stock

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,593 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.13, for a total value of $16,663,610.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 672,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,128,875.30. The trade was a 28.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKR traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.81. The stock had a trading volume of 9,369,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,552,938. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $55.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.15. Baker Hughes Company has a one year low of $33.60 and a one year high of $67.00. The stock has a market cap of $59.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.36.

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

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 648,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,850,000 after buying an additional 49,108 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,920,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 13.6% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 829,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,429,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,890,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,035,924,000 after buying an additional 598,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Baker Hughes by 3.8% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 17,316,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $843,653,000 after acquiring an additional 638,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Argus upped their target price on Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Johnson Rice began coverage on Baker Hughes in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Baker Hughes has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.61.

Baker Hughes Company 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.