Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,116,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 107,771 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $82,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.7%

HAL stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.37. The company had a trading volume of 6,603,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,425,458. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $20.17 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.25 and a 200 day moving average of $36.03. The company has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays upgraded Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, Griffin Securities raised Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.18.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% 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. Insiders sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Profile

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.