Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Shares in Halliburton Company $HAL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 42,700 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,665,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in Halliburton by 39.0% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 20,583 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Halliburton by 25.0% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 10,408 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 309.1% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 52,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter worth approximately $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays upgraded Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $33.00 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $20.17 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.72.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 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.