GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $31,000 Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 864 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 428 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $31,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $344,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Halliburton by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $82,525,000 after purchasing an additional 235,906 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,342,520 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $135,372,000 after purchasing an additional 44,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,869,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 3.1 %

HAL opened at $39.67 on Friday. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.47.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.