Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on BKR. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Baker Hughes in a report on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings lowered Baker Hughes from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Baker Hughes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.81.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $56.56 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $56.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.96. Baker Hughes has a 52 week low of $43.92 and a 52 week high of $70.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.33.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Baker Hughes will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other 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 value of $10,599,844.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 703,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,102,232.92. This represents a 20.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC raised its position in Baker Hughes by 121.4% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 344.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 651 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ: BKR) is an energy technology company that provides products, services and digital solutions for the energy and industrial sectors. Its offerings support the exploration, development, production, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas, as well as broader energy and industrial operations.

The company’s portfolio includes oilfield services and equipment, drilling and completion technologies, artificial lift systems, subsea production solutions, turbomachinery, compressors, gas technology and liquefied natural gas equipment.