Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Takes Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 25,300 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Halliburton by 7.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 20,583 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 10,408 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 309.1% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 52,092 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HAL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna cut their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $35.05 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.78 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.50.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

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.