Pzena Investment Management LLC Has $158.57 Million Stock Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Pzena Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 23.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,067,041 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,266,702 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $158,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its position in Halliburton by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore boosted their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. HSBC raised their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $33.00 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.79. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $20.17 and a 52-week high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued 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 last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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