Wedmont Private Capital Sells 629 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wedmont Private Capital lessened its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,304 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 629 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% in 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 during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $621,000. Scott & Selber Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 109.9% in the 4th quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 81,335 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 42,590 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its stake in Halliburton by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 138,026 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,753,000 after purchasing an additional 68,014 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $277,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.58.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.1%

Halliburton stock opened at $22.21 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $18.72 and a 12 month high of $37.08. The company has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 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 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

Halliburton 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.