Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Acquired by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 158,366 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $6,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,054,000. QV Investors Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $3,195,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $827,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after purchasing an additional 67,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 172.6% in the 4th quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 110,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after buying an additional 69,644 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC increased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Nineteen 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.27.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $35.20 on Tuesday. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.17 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. The trade was a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.