Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) Receives $19.91 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.9091.

BAX has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Baxter International from $20.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Baxter International from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore lowered their price objective on Baxter International from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Baxter International from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Baxter International from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Trading of Baxter International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Baxter International by 3.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 52,436 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Baxter International by 2.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 649,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $19,666,000 after purchasing an additional 18,439 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Baxter International by 1.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,638,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $231,304,000 after purchasing an additional 97,687 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 24,356 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Baxter International by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 53,933 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the period. 90.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Baxter International Price Performance

NYSE:BAX opened at $21.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.19, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.62. Baxter International has a one year low of $15.73 and a one year high of $29.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Baxter International had a negative net margin of 9.70% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Baxter International will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1.88%.

Baxter International Company Profile

Baxter International Inc is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products, pharmaceutical therapies and biotechnology-based solutions. The company’s primary business activities are organized around renal care, medication delivery, acute therapies, pharmacy automation, surgical care and biotechnology. Baxter’s offerings are designed to support patient care in hospitals, dialysis centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities worldwide.

In the renal care segment, Baxter provides hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis systems, water treatment equipment and related disposables, including dialyzers, bloodlines and catheters.