O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Purchases 308,380 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 118.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 568,588 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 308,380 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $16,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Syon Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 14,981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 5,691 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,456 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 243.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 77,742 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,197,000 after buying an additional 55,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Zephirin Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Barclays upgraded Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.27.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,521,080. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock valued at $16,846,948. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $39.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.80. 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 firm has a market cap of $33.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.69. Halliburton Company has a 12 month low of $20.09 and a 12 month high of $43.59.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors 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 yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

Halliburton Company 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.