The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 17,233 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 553,347 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,233 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $18,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,812,327,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2,886.3% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 82,808,973 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,811,365,000 after buying an additional 80,036,032 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after buying an additional 29,735,387 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter worth $345,941,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of HAL opened at $35.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.02. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $21.46 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.70.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.60%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at $4,166,235.70. This represents a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. The trade was 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. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports oil and natural gas exploration, development and production across the life cycle of a well, serving both independent and national oil companies.

Halliburton operates through two principal business segments: Completion and Production, which provides cementing, stimulation, intervention and completion services; and Drilling and Evaluation, which offers drilling services, formation evaluation, well construction, project management and related technologies.