M&G PLC Boosts Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

M&G PLC boosted its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 498,886 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,747 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $12,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 547.3% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 111.9% during the second quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. HSBC set a $30.00 price target on shares of Halliburton and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore increased their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.95.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 344,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,044,943.60. This trade represents a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,538,550. The trade was a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 337,002 shares of company stock worth $11,445,938 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $33.95 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.68. The company has a market capitalization of $28.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.77. 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 current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

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.