Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 320,071 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 54,281 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $10,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Capital One Financial upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $33.31 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.48. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $20.57 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.60%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.