Meyer Handelman Co. Sells 20,200 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Meyer Handelman Co. cut its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 20,200 shares during the quarter. Meyer Handelman Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $5,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 80.0% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 17,484 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 7,768 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 16,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Halliburton by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 83,077 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 3,287 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 237.2% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 22,639 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 15,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $439,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,576 shares of company stock worth $1,631,457 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of HAL stock opened at $19.60 on Friday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $37.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.85 billion, a PE ratio of 6.93, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.31.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 28.45%.

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.