Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Position in Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,156,561 shares of the company’s stock after selling 486,831 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Baker Hughes were worth $88,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKR. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Baker Hughes during the third quarter worth about $283,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,263,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Baker Hughes by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 150,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,443,000 after buying an additional 21,890 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes during the 3rd quarter valued at $322,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Baker Hughes by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,382,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,993,000 after buying an additional 124,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BKR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Baker Hughes from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.00.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $35.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Baker Hughes has a 1-year low of $30.93 and a 1-year high of $49.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.02.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.07. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 10.70% and a return on equity of 14.58%. Equities analysts predict that Baker Hughes will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Baker Hughes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, EVP Maria C. Borras sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.77, for a total value of $358,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 173,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,730.54. This trade represents a 4.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. The company operates through Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) and Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segments. The OFSE segment designs and manufactures products and provides related services, including exploration, appraisal, development, production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning for onshore and offshore oilfield operations.