Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 587,615 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 65,278 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $21,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HAL. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 valued at $27,781,000 after acquiring an additional 561,020 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Halliburton by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after buying an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted 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 buying an additional 235,906 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.59.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $37.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.84 and a one year high of $43.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.07. The company has a market cap of $33.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.01.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 434,287 shares of company stock worth $15,415,304 in the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.