North Dakota State Investment Board Takes $831,000 Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 29,405 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,239,349,000 after acquiring an additional 40,969,139 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $418,738,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $147,315,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 85.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $175,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,759 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 420,837 shares of company stock valued at $16,979,135. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $42.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 12 month low of $19.38 and a 12 month high of $43.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.49.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on HAL shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.86.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.