Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 893,181 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,113,403 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 893,181 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $257,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HAL. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.65.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL traded up $0.34 during trading on Monday, reaching $38.89. 3,938,427 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,077,958. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.33.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Halliburton

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.