Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 55,566 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,237,496 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 55,566 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.25% of Halliburton worth $80,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Sourcerock Group LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,677,194 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $67,926,000 after buying an additional 1,180,406 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,539,062 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $91,787,000 after buying an additional 859,440 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 1,507.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 852,357 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $34,520,000 after buying an additional 799,337 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,339,859 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $94,766,000 after buying an additional 575,933 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.54. The stock had a trading volume of 5,056,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,718,629. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.84 and a one year high of $43.85. The company has a market capitalization of $34.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.36.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on HAL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.82.

Halliburton 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.