Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 70,267 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 105.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 136,889 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,267 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Piper Sandler upgraded Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL opened at $37.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $21.40 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.63.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,166,235.70. This represents a 30.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% 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. 0.57% of the stock is currently 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.