Capital Research Global Investors Buys 19,190,520 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned 13.16% of Halliburton worth $3,114,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $1,054,000. Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,091,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,010,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,579,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $3,195,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 owned 72,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. The trade was a 10.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $39.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.77 and its 200 day moving average is $34.55. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $20.09 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced 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 net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 37.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Griffin Securities upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Capital One Financial upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.27.

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.