DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Lowers Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 321,625 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 2,216 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $10,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 274.9% in the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 286.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.88.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $28.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.80 and a 200-day moving average of $35.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.52 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The company had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Halliburton’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 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.