California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 60,467 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,631,755 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 60,467 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $58,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 271.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,781,000 after acquiring an additional 561,020 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after buying an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after buying an additional 31,534 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after buying an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $344,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $38.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.12. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $27.84 and a 52 week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 transaction of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on HAL. TD Cowen increased their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $48.82.

About Halliburton

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.