King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 14,292 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 42.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,182 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 14,292 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HAL. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 146.0% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 842,355 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,455,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 440.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,227 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,815 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 191.9% during the 2nd quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 26,123 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $882,000 after acquiring an additional 17,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,343,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Halliburton from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.17.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $29.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.48 and its 200-day moving average is $34.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.52 and a 1 year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total value of $367,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Halliburton

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.