SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 1,082.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 745,387 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 682,348 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.09% of Halliburton worth $21,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Halliburton by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $145,860,000 after buying an additional 96,394 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,775,000. Tejara Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 98.8% in the third quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after acquiring an additional 66,765 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,480,000 after acquiring an additional 186,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,091,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of HAL stock opened at $40.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.46. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $40.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zephirin Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 3,846 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total transaction of $132,187.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 81,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,805,657.47. This trade represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 187,423 shares in the company, valued at $6,338,645.86. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 357,053 shares of company stock worth $12,178,682. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.