Baker Hughes Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NASDAQ:BKR)

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th.

Baker Hughes has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years. Baker Hughes has a payout ratio of 31.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Baker Hughes to earn $2.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.5%.

Baker Hughes Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Baker Hughes stock opened at $37.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.38. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.35. Baker Hughes has a 12-month low of $28.32 and a 12-month high of $39.05.

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. Baker Hughes had a net margin of 7.37% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Research analysts expect that Baker Hughes will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lorenzo Simonelli sold 114,286 shares of Baker Hughes stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 owns 502,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,571,855. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Baker Hughes from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Baker Hughes in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Baker Hughes from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.59.

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.