Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.67 Million in Halliburton Company $HAL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 42,700 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,665,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 196.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus upped their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Capital One Financial lifted their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE HAL opened at $33.00 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $20.17 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released 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. The company 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 for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

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.