Legal & General Group Plc Sells 273,650 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,370,278 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 273,650 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $151,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $177,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 101.6% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 14,039 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 7,074 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,312 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Halliburton

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Negative Sentiment: WTI crude slid on improving U.S.-Iran diplomacy and reduced geopolitical risk, which weighed on Halliburton and other oilfield services names. Helix Energy Solutions and TechnipFMC Shares Plummet, What You Need To Know
• Negative Sentiment: Halliburton was specifically cited as falling because the crude pullback may signal slower drilling and completions activity, which can hurt sentiment toward the stock. Why Halliburton (HAL) Stock Is Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Broad weakness hit other energy-service peers such as SLB and Baker Hughes, reinforcing that the move appears sector-driven rather than company-specific. Why SLB (SLB) Stock Is Trading Lower Today

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore raised Halliburton from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Zephirin Group upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.86.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $39.58 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $19.44 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.99.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 420,837 shares of company stock worth $16,979,135 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.