1,010 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Bought by Criterion Capital Advisors LLC

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,010 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $457,245,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Halliburton by 123.0% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 15,936,342 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $627,088,000 after acquiring an additional 8,791,319 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Halliburton by 65.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,217,776 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $677,520,000 after acquiring an additional 6,815,373 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Halliburton by 140.4% in the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,737,112 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $118,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $68,873,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James reduced their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.08. 6,634,510 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,132,801. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $27.84 and a 12-month high of $43.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.