Swiss National Bank Acquires 133,500 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,469,900 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 133,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $96,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 10.2% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,794 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,456 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,312 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,320 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on HAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Griffin Securities upgraded Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zephirin Group upped their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $35.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.17 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.38.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.