MCF Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,048 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 0.7% in the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 37,010 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 1.2% in the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 22,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 3.6% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.3% during the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.4% during the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 62,157 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. TD Cowen upped their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.53.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.35 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.73. 1,162,274 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,045,538. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.39. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a market cap of $34.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. This is an increase from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.21%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.