Baker Hughes Company $BKR Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its stake in Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,442,677 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,750 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $111,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,022,491,000. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $729,670,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 12,983.5% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,491,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,994,000 after purchasing an additional 3,464,637 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $144,262,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Baker Hughes by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 47,546,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,316,462,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,709 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKR opened at $62.59 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.41. The company has a market cap of $62.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Baker Hughes Company has a 52 week low of $37.38 and a 52 week high of $70.41.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is presently 29.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Maria Georgia Magno sold 5,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.04, for a total transaction of $298,919.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $918,367.20. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 5,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.22, for a total value of $326,751.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,327.34. This trade represents a 24.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 282,745 shares of company stock worth $16,651,472. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Baker Hughes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.14.

About Baker Hughes

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.