Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 54.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,936,378 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 2,447,831 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $196,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,054,000. Impala Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,091,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,010,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,579,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,195,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Griffin Securities upgraded Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $39.60 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Halliburton Company has a 12 month low of $20.09 and a 12 month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.