Halliburton Company $HAL Position Decreased by Banco Santander S.A.

Banco Santander S.A. reduced its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 98.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,594 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 481,080 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter worth $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth $32,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 547.3% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 111.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at $12,044,943.60. The trade was a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 337,002 shares of company stock worth $11,445,938 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Zephirin Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Capital One Financial increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.19.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE HAL opened at $35.93 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $36.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.57. The company has a market capitalization of $30.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.