iSAM Funds UK Ltd Buys Shares of 92,091 Halliburton Company $HAL

iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 92,091 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,147,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617,696 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,287,989 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $617,269,000 after purchasing an additional 346,218 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,342,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $453,461,000 after buying an additional 92,549 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $242,600,000 after buying an additional 1,089,928 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 37.7% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 6,625,668 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $135,031,000 after buying an additional 1,814,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $28.06 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.18. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $30.40. The firm has a market cap of $23.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. Halliburton had a return on equity of 20.12% and a net margin of 5.91%.The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Halliburton’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $4,443,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,562,425.98. This trade represents a 26.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $246,938.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 333,528 shares in the company, valued at $9,302,095.92. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $41.00 price objective on the stock. Zephirin Group upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.55.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.