Pzena Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 3,925,702 Halliburton Company $HAL

Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,925,702 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,278,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned about 0.47% of Halliburton as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its position in Halliburton by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Zephirin Group increased their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton 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 report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price objective on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $34.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.48. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $20.78 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The stock has a market cap of $29.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.