AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 481,300 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 42.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 650,295 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 481,300 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $15,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HAL. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,369 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Halliburton by 7.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 7,374 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in Halliburton by 3.3% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 16,390 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 4.3% in the second quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,590 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.6% during the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 22,307 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $4,443,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 452,374 shares in the company, valued at $12,562,425.98. This represents a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $5,985,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,101,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,499,455.28. This represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 497,002 shares of company stock worth $15,889,138 in the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $33.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $28.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.61. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $35.55.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 45.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Susquehanna upped their price target on Halliburton from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.57.

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.