Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 101,025,255 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 3,551,883 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Halliburton worth $2,854,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,054,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $145,860,000 after buying an additional 96,394 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,775,000. Tejara Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 98.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,305,000 after buying an additional 66,765 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $40,480,000 after buying an additional 186,105 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE HAL opened at $40.74 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $37.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.86. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $19.22 and a one year high of $41.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Zephirin Group upped their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 19,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $663,480.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at $11,652,173.70. This represents a 5.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 187,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,338,645.86. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 187,360 shares of company stock valued at $7,317,882 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.