Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Lowers Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,175,030 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 25,286 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $78,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Halliburton by 259.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 166,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 120,122 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Halliburton by 70.5% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 128,001 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,847,000 after purchasing an additional 52,933 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter valued at $696,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Halliburton by 81.5% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,347 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in Halliburton by 83.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,384 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $38.04 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.84 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.32 and a 200 day moving average of $37.41. The firm has a market cap of $33.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 23.21%.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.