SIR Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 230,200 Halliburton Company $HAL

SIR Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 230,200 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,815,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Halliburton by 128.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,284,612 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $89,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,095 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $827,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 172.6% in the fourth quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 110,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after purchasing an additional 69,644 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $10,568,000 after buying an additional 67,369 shares during the period. Finally, Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,731,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $34.63 on Tuesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $21.40 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.54.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced 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. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company 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 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 52,572 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,166,235.70. The trade was 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 accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price objective on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

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.