Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 141,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 9,612 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $5,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 259.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 166,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 120,122 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 70.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 128,001 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,847,000 after purchasing an additional 52,933 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth $696,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 81.5% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,347 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 83.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,384 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4 %

HAL stock opened at $39.10 on Tuesday. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.84 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The firm has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. 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 fifty day moving average price of $37.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.42.

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

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.21%.

About Halliburton

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.