Pzena Investment Management LLC Acquires 1,612,527 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,346,596 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 1,612,527 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned about 0.64% of Halliburton worth $131,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $617,269,000 after acquiring an additional 346,218 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 10.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $242,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,928 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 23.1% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. HSBC set a $30.00 price target on shares of Halliburton and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price objective on Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Halliburton from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.95.

Halliburton Trading Up 3.1%

HAL stock opened at $34.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $35.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.82. The company has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.77.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 45.03%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $88,842.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,849.31. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,044,943.60. The trade was a 13.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 337,002 shares of company stock worth $11,445,938. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.