Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Grows Position in Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,328,202 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 356,612 shares during the quarter. Baxter International comprises approximately 1.1% of Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned 0.65% of Baxter International worth $63,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BAX. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Baxter International during the 3rd quarter worth $143,186,000. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 57,396,370 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,306,915,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274,750 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 477.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,725,251 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $32,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426,547 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Baxter International by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,510,205 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $257,174,000 after purchasing an additional 972,891 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 615,100 shares during the period. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Baxter International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Baxter International from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup cut Baxter International from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $19.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Baxter International from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Baxter International has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $19.73.

Baxter International Trading Up 0.0%

BAX opened at $18.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.64. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $32.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 9.70%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.88%.

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.