Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Sold by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 19.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,316 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 47,908 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,147,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617,696 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,287,989 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $617,269,000 after purchasing an additional 346,218 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,342,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $453,461,000 after buying an additional 92,549 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Halliburton by 10.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $242,600,000 after buying an additional 1,089,928 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,154,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $249,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $34.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.42. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $35.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $28.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63 and a beta of 0.78.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 45.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. HSBC set a $30.00 price target on Halliburton and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 344,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,044,943.60. This trade represents a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $4,443,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,562,425.98. This trade represents a 26.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 494,402 shares of company stock valued at $15,800,296 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton 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.