PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab Raises Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab lifted its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 206,624 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,270 shares during the quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $388,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,951 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 18,587 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. VectorGlobal IAG Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter worth $1,020,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Sunday, April 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $31.87 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.39 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

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.