Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR)

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 13,753 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 322% compared to the average daily volume of 3,262 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.94.

Baker Hughes Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKR opened at $33.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.97 and a 200-day moving average of $32.56. Baker Hughes has a 1-year low of $26.81 and a 1-year high of $37.58. The firm has a market cap of $33.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 11.45% and a net margin of 6.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.93%.

Insider Activity at Baker Hughes

In other Baker Hughes news, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.88, for a total transaction of $169,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,998 shares in the company, valued at $508,132.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.44, for a total value of $294,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,451 shares in the company, valued at $425,437.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP James E. Apostolides sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.88, for a total transaction of $169,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $508,132.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 4th quarter valued at about $551,555,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,078,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,881,000 after acquiring an additional 2,316,638 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,816,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,729,000 after acquiring an additional 379,385 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,445,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,627,000 after acquiring an additional 745,511 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,669,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,083 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.06% of the company’s stock.

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.