Halliburton Company $HAL Stock Position Raised by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $841,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,239,349,000 after purchasing an additional 40,969,139 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $418,738,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $147,315,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 85.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $175,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth about $97,178,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the sale, the director owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 222,488 shares of company stock worth $8,789,305. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.45.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.12. The company has a market cap of $34.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 12 month low of $19.38 and a 12 month high of $42.46.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

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.