Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Takes $218,000 Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,040 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $27,781,000 after buying an additional 561,020 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares during the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $17,722,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Halliburton by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after buying an additional 22,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter worth $344,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.08. 6,634,510 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,132,801. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $34.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.17 dividend. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.21%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.53.

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.