Baker Hughes Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:BKR)

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 9,714 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 295% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,458 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 114,286 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $4,000,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 502,053 shares in the company, valued at $17,571,855. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baker Hughes

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Baker Hughes by 81.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Baker Hughes by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 2,898 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 36.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 61,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 16,582 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Baker Hughes during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $707,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Baker Hughes by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,723,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,801,000 after purchasing an additional 692,859 shares during the period. 92.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BKR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Baker Hughes from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Baker Hughes from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.38.

Baker Hughes Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of Baker Hughes stock traded down $1.20 on Tuesday, reaching $33.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,030,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,301,847. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.26. Baker Hughes has a 1 year low of $28.32 and a 1 year high of $39.05.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.08. Baker Hughes had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 7.37%. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Baker Hughes will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Baker Hughes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. Baker Hughes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.93%.

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.