Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $59.23 and last traded at $58.7310, with a volume of 466915 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $58.00.

More Baker Hughes News

Here are the key news stories impacting Baker Hughes this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Baker Hughes won a preferred‑provider role to supply downstream chemicals to Marathon Petroleum across North America — a commercial win that supports recurring revenue and aftermarket exposure in refining, which can boost near‑term revenue visibility. Marathon deal
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share (record Feb 17, payable Feb 27), reinforcing shareholder returns and supporting investor income demand; yield ~1.6% and payout ratio remains moderate.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst momentum and institutional buying: several firms recently raised price targets and multiple large institutions have added to positions, underpinning a favorable analyst/institutional backdrop and supporting demand for shares.
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other commentary highlight BKR as a momentum/energy‑tech name after its multi‑year rally — useful context for momentum investors but not an immediate fundamental change. Zacks momentum piece
• Neutral Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance piece discusses whether current pricing reflects Baker Hughes’ expanding energy‑tech role after its rally — informative for valuation debates but not a discrete catalyst. Yahoo Finance
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data in the feed appears to show zero shares / NaN changes (likely a reporting quirk). Current short‑interest ratios are negligible per that report — if accurate, it reduces short‑squeeze risk; if erroneous, ignore until corrected.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director William Beattie sold ~18,023 shares (~$1.03M) on Feb 3. Insider sales can be perceived negatively by some investors, especially if timed near highs, though one director sale is not uncommon and may be for personal reasons. Insider trade filing

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BKR shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. HSBC raised their target price on Baker Hughes from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Zephirin Group lifted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore set a $54.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.30.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $50.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 14.51% and a net margin of 9.33%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s payout ratio is currently 35.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total value of $1,032,537.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 1,985 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.77, for a total value of $110,703.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $672,140.04. The trade was a 14.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,851 shares of company stock valued at $1,190,736 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at $2,031,000. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Baker Hughes by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 3,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baker Hughes in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,354,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.