Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,058 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 19,590 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Griffin Securities raised shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE HAL opened at $39.12 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.61. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $20.09 and a one year high of $43.59. 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 $32.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.70.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.