Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Sold by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 72,496 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 12,467 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 7.5% in 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 boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 25.0% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,408 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 309.1% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 52,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. 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, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 420,837 shares of company stock worth $16,979,135. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.1%

HAL stock opened at $41.50 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.80. 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 Company has a 52-week low of $19.42 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The firm has a market cap of $34.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zephirin Group upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.86.

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.