Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Short Interest Update

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR – Get Rating) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 22,630,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the December 15th total of 21,120,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Maria C. Borras sold 9,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.02, for a total value of $284,715.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,161,235.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Baker Hughes news, EVP Maria C. Borras sold 9,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.02, for a total value of $284,715.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,474 shares in the company, valued at $2,161,235.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Neil Saunders sold 118,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total transaction of $3,630,594.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 54,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,336.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 285,303 shares of company stock worth $8,816,980 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Baker Hughes

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 37,882,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,093,660,000 after acquiring an additional 18,629,874 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Baker Hughes by 41.2% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,877,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,950,000 after purchasing an additional 7,836,906 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 214.6% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,398,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,193,000 after purchasing an additional 7,092,424 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,365,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,905,000 after purchasing an additional 6,456,576 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Baker Hughes by 443.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 5,931,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,314,000 after purchasing an additional 4,838,736 shares during the last quarter. 97.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BKR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Baker Hughes from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 26th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Baker Hughes in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. ATB Capital cut their target price on Baker Hughes to $37.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.44.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $30.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.54, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.37 and a 200 day moving average of $26.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Baker Hughes has a twelve month low of $20.42 and a twelve month high of $39.78.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.07 billion. Baker Hughes had a negative net margin of 2.36% and a positive return on equity of 4.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Baker Hughes will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 4th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. This is a boost from Baker Hughes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio is presently -165.22%.

About Baker Hughes

(Get Rating)

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. It operates through two segments: Oilfield Services & Equipment and Industrial & Energy Technology. The company offers exploration, drilling, wireline, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention services; and drilling and completions fluids, wireline services, downhole completion tools and systems, wellbore intervention tools and services, pressure pumping systems, oilfield and industrial chemicals, and artificial lift technologies for oil and natural gas, and oilfield service companies.