Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 482,846 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 846.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 539,899 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 482,846 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Halliburton worth $21,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its stake in Halliburton by 196.4% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. 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 note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Capital One Financial upped their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Sunday, April 26th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. The trade was a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $31.27 on Wednesday. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $20.39 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The company has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.50.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

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.