Wahed Invest LLC Decreases Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wahed Invest LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,362 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,043 shares during the quarter. Wahed Invest LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $437,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $20.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $38.35.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results 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. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.84.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % 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 over the last quarter. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.