K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Purchases Shares of 50,000 Halliburton Company $HAL

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 50,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,698,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 128.8% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,284,612 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $89,077,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,095 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $827,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $10,568,000 after purchasing an additional 67,369 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $3,731,000. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 115.7% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 65,147 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 34,943 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $34.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.48. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $20.78 and a 52-week high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on HAL. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zephirin Group increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

About Halliburton

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.