California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 59,568 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,772,941 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 59,568 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $108,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT grew its stake in Halliburton by 196.4% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 6,364.7% during the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,099 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zephirin Group raised their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were 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 owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This trade represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 243,475 shares of company stock worth $9,931,490. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.1%

HAL opened at $31.19 on Thursday. 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 50-day moving average is $36.27 and its 200 day moving average is $36.49. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.39 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders 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 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

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.