Clear Trail Advisors LLC Makes New $449,000 Investment in Halliburton Company $HAL

Clear Trail Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,879 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,538,550. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 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 value of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 344,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,044,943.60. This trade represents a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 357,053 shares of company stock worth $12,178,682 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE HAL opened at $37.48 on Tuesday. 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 $34.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.08. The stock has a market cap of $31.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $37.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.