Ellsworth Advisors LLC Takes $443,000 Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,253 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1,134.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 1,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter valued at $34,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE HAL traded up $0.59 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,822,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,492,201. The company has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.56. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.63.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.