Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 12,467 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Morningstar Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,496 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 12,467 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,049,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $1,054,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $145,860,000 after acquiring an additional 96,394 shares during the period. Tejara Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 98.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after acquiring an additional 66,765 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,480,000 after acquiring an additional 186,105 shares during the period. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,091,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $41.50 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.80. The company has a market cap of $34.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $19.42 and a 12-month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,064,992. The trade was a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 420,837 shares of company stock worth $16,979,135 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore raised Halliburton from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Capital One Financial upped their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.86.

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.