Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Position Lifted by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,462,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 360,523 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Halliburton worth $39,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HAL. AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $431,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,184,850 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $249,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,094 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 760.6% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 28,649 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 25,320 shares during the last quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $525,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 530.6% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,237 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 9,455 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $20.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.46. 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 has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $38.35.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on HAL. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.84.

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.