Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP cut its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 88.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,513 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 268,186 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $353,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $437,587,000 after buying an additional 2,171,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HAL. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.68.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $19.82 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $38.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $17.08 billion, a PE ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

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.