Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Bought by Capital Research Global Investors

Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,969,139 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned approximately 10.82% of Halliburton worth $2,239,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $418,738,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $109,379,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 85.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $175,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,759 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 762.7% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,265,132 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $66,543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,154,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $249,803,000 after buying an additional 1,906,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Halliburton from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zephirin Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.38.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $34.60 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $28.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $37.03.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 2.0%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $88,842.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,043 shares in the company, valued at $479,849.31. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 331,994 shares of company stock worth $11,331,187 in the last quarter. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Halliburton

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.