Strs Ohio Boosts Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

Strs Ohio raised its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 80.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 759,374 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 339,670 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.09% of Halliburton worth $29,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 14,211 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 70.4% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,130 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $251,000. TKG Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $362,000. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 5.1% in the first quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. now owns 9,708 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Griffin Securities upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.32.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $32.98 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.17 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.80.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. Halliburton’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.36%.

About Halliburton

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.