Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Increases Stock Position in Baxter International Inc. $BAX

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 9.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 427,368 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 36,118 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $7,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Baxter International in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Baxter International during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in Baxter International during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Baxter International during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Baxter International in the 4th quarter valued at $54,000. 90.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Baxter International Stock Up 0.0%

Baxter International stock opened at $22.40 on Monday. Baxter International Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.73 and a 1-year high of $29.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $20.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.52, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.62.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 9.70%.The business had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Baxter International Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baxter International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Baxter International’s payout ratio is currently -1.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Baxter International from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Baxter International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Baxter International from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $19.91.

Baxter International 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.