Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 31,240 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 45.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 31,240 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% in the third quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 42,126 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 7.0% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 9.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 20,756 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in Halliburton by 48.1% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 31,180 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $992,000 after acquiring an additional 10,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 3.0% in the third quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 268,606 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $8,542,000 after acquiring an additional 7,906 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $34.57 on Tuesday. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $24.92 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.76. The stock has a market cap of $28.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.83.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 8.90%. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,166,235.70. The trade was a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas through technologies and services used throughout the life cycle of a well.

Halliburton operates through two primary business segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Its offerings include cementing, stimulation, well completion, production enhancement, drilling services, drilling fluids, well testing, wireline and perforating services, formation evaluation, and project management.