54,100 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 54,100 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,956,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 443.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV increased its stake in Halliburton by 1,134.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 1,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets cut Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.53.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.6 %

Halliburton stock opened at $38.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.42. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.84 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The company has a market capitalization of $34.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.00.

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

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. This is an increase from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.21%.

Insider Activity

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

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.