Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,116,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 107,771 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Halliburton worth $82,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,456 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,312 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,320 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 22,517 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.18.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $34.37. The company had a trading volume of 6,603,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,425,458. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $20.17 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.03. The company has a market capitalization of $28.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton 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.