Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 31,240 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 45.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 31,240 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,812,327,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Halliburton by 4.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,870,444 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,930,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463,137 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,502,988 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $370,556,000 after purchasing an additional 367,701 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $345,941,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $337,486,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 4.4%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $34.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $28.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.76. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $24.92 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 18.36%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 28.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,166,235.70. The trade was a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas through technologies and services used throughout the life cycle of a well.

Halliburton operates through two primary business segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Its offerings include cementing, stimulation, well completion, production enhancement, drilling services, drilling fluids, well testing, wireline and perforating services, formation evaluation, and project management.