23,425 Shares in Halliburton Company $HAL Bought by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 23,425 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,147,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617,696 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 1.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 346,218 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,342,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $453,461,000 after purchasing an additional 92,549 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,906,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. HSBC set a $30.00 target price on shares of Halliburton and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Halliburton from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.76.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $4,443,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,562,425.98. This represents a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,538,550. The trade was a 19.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 497,002 shares of company stock valued at $15,889,138 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $33.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.72 and a 200 day moving average of $25.72. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $35.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.