Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 3,930 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 68.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,662 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,930 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,027 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 18,325 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 10,847 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 11,842 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.47.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $27.87 on Friday. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.52 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton 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.