Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,178,933 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 40,200 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.38% of Halliburton worth $78,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 1.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,617,696 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,287,989 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $617,269,000 after acquiring an additional 346,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 92,549 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $242,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,154,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $249,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $32.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on Halliburton from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their target price on Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Rothschild Redb upgraded Halliburton to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Halliburton from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.57.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 333,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,302,095.92. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 268,854 shares of company stock worth $7,915,138. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE HAL opened at $32.05 on Wednesday. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $33.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $26.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.58 and a 200 day moving average of $25.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 20.12% and a net margin of 5.91%.The company’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.03%.

About Halliburton

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.