Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $62.62 and last traded at $62.4460, with a volume of 391295 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. iA Financial set a $60.00 target price on Baker Hughes in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on Baker Hughes from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $55.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Baker Hughes Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $61.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.89.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.11. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes Company will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William G. Beattie sold 18,023 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $1,032,537.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Rebecca L. Charlton sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.34, for a total value of $47,494.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,019 shares in the company, valued at $789,830.46. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,001 shares of company stock worth $2,322,692. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 8.2% during the second quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 648,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,850,000 after buying an additional 49,108 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Baker Hughes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,920,000. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in Baker Hughes by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 829,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,429,000 after acquiring an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,800,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,026,000 after acquiring an additional 144,381 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 23.9% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 458,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,334,000 after purchasing an additional 88,536 shares in the last quarter. 92.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Baker Hughes Company Profile

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.