Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 21.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 979,995 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 263,882 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Halliburton worth $24,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $35.01 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $35.55. The company has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.04.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $4,443,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 452,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,562,425.98. This trade represents a 26.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 497,002 shares of company stock valued at $15,889,138. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $35.00 target price on Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Capital One Financial raised their target price on Halliburton from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.95.

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.