Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC reduced its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 334,953 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 17,998 shares during the quarter. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $9,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $20.60 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.46. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $38.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.28, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 in the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.84.

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.