Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Position Lifted by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4,371.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,766 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 30,078 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 12.3% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,967 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,522,000 after purchasing an additional 7,002 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Halliburton by 0.4% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 247,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $9,774,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Halliburton by 13.1% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,617,878 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $103,197,000 after acquiring an additional 303,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 25.4% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 23,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 4,849 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,828,508.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,287 shares of company stock valued at $2,298,204 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Halliburton from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.35.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL traded down $1.44 on Thursday, hitting $33.24. 8,402,750 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,532,062. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Halliburton has a one year low of $32.60 and a one year high of $43.85. The firm has a market cap of $29.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.80. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.53%.

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.