Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 33.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,914,220 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 727,073 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Halliburton were worth $82,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 5,370 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,320 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Halliburton by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 16,789 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Halliburton by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,369 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Zephirin Group boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.45.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $19.38 and a one year high of $42.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were 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 was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,488 shares of company stock worth $8,789,305. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.