Lorenzo Simonelli Sells 272,594 Shares of Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Stock

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,594 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $16,025,801.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 866,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,938,242.76. The trade was a 23.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Lorenzo Simonelli also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Lorenzo Simonelli sold 272,593 shares of Baker Hughes stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.13, for a total transaction of $16,663,610.09.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

Baker Hughes stock opened at $54.26 on Friday. Baker Hughes Company has a 1-year low of $33.60 and a 1-year high of $67.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.80.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.09 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, 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 was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Baker Hughes from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.61.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 83,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,676,000 after purchasing an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Baker Hughes by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 18,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Baker Hughes by 30.6% in the second quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 13,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 3,186 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Baker Hughes in the second quarter worth approximately $639,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Baker Hughes by 1.0% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,219,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,774,000 after acquiring an additional 11,909 shares during the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.