HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Buys New Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,736 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $400,070,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Halliburton by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,878,811 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $284,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,485 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Halliburton by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,217,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $224,770,000 after acquiring an additional 962,547 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,539,062 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $91,787,000 after acquiring an additional 859,440 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 1,507.6% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 852,357 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $34,520,000 after acquiring an additional 799,337 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,481,883.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,287 shares of company stock worth $1,930,704. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on HAL. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.06.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $33.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. Halliburton has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $43.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.36. The stock has a market cap of $29.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.53%.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.