Groupama Asset Managment Increases Stock Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,941,931 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 322,066 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $54,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% during the third 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 last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted 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 worth $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $418,738,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $169,304,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $147,315,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $34.93 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.39. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $20.09 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The stock has a market cap of $29.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 391,932 shares of company stock worth $15,999,453. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.27.

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.