Halliburton Company $HAL Position Lessened by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors trimmed its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,987,123 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 752,498 shares during the period. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Halliburton were worth $367,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $1,054,000. Impala Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth $2,091,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth $1,010,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $1,579,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,195,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 416,991 shares of company stock valued at $16,846,948 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on HAL. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Griffin Securities upgraded Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, April 10th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.27.

Halliburton Trading Up 3.2%

Halliburton stock opened at $40.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.70. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $20.09 and a 52 week high of $43.59.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Halliburton Company 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.