Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Sells 39,507 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 787,389 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 39,507 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $22,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,239,349,000 after acquiring an additional 40,969,139 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $418,738,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $169,304,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $147,315,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 420,837 shares of company stock valued at $16,979,135. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.0%

HAL opened at $40.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.55 and its 200 day moving average is $34.23. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $19.64 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.69.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

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.