LPL Financial LLC Grows Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 36.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 641,066 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 170,053 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $17,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $897,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,531,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,584,000 after buying an additional 42,876 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,938,092 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $52,697,000 after acquiring an additional 519,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 83,262 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 26,015 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Griffin Securities lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.37.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL opened at $25.37 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $23.42 and a 1-year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.