Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Sold by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors decreased its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,739,621 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 2,865,183 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned approximately 1.63% of Halliburton worth $337,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Halliburton by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Halliburton by 25.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,408 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 309.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 52,092 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at $895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at $12,044,943.60. This represents a 13.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $88,842.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 331,994 shares of company stock worth $11,331,187 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Halliburton from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Halliburton from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.38.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $35.93 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $37.03. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.73. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $33.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.29.

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 analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

Halliburton 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.