974,554 Shares in Baxter International Inc. $BAX Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 974,554 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $20,777,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BAX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Baxter International during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,744,874,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Baxter International during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,392,098,000. Equity Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Baxter International in the second quarter valued at about $146,815,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Baxter International during the second quarter worth about $68,036,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Baxter International during the second quarter worth about $51,958,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Baxter International Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:BAX opened at $26.13 on Friday. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.55. The company has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a PE ratio of -12.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.27% and a positive return on equity of 16.57%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Baxter International has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.950-2.150 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BAX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Citigroup upgraded Baxter International from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Baxter International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Baxter International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.45.

About Baxter International

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.