New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 186,105 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 186,105 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.20% of Halliburton worth $40,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,147,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617,696 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 1.2% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,287,989 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $617,269,000 after purchasing an additional 346,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,342,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $453,461,000 after buying an additional 92,549 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 10.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $242,600,000 after buying an additional 1,089,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,154,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $249,803,000 after buying an additional 1,906,724 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Halliburton from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Susquehanna raised their price target on Halliburton from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $35.00 price objective on Halliburton in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.76.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $33.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.69. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $35.55. The company has a market cap of $28.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given 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 was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $5,985,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,101,243 shares in the company, valued at $38,499,455.28. The trade was a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total value of $88,842.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $479,849.31. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 497,002 shares of company stock valued at $15,889,138. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Halliburton

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.