Park National Corp OH Sells 61,472 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Park National Corp OH decreased its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 265,914 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 61,472 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,239,349,000 after buying an additional 40,969,139 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth $418,738,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $147,315,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $109,379,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 85.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $175,490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $36.90 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $37.27. The company has a market capitalization of $30.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,538,550. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $5,985,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,101,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,499,455.28. This trade represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 357,053 shares of company stock valued at $12,178,682 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zephirin Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Capital One Financial raised their price objective on Halliburton from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.38.

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.