Ellsworth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 12,253 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,691,333 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $590,048,000 after buying an additional 271,718 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Halliburton by 65.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,217,776 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $677,520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,815,373 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Halliburton by 123.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 15,936,342 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $627,088,000 after purchasing an additional 8,791,319 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $457,245,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,384,178 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $408,617,000 after purchasing an additional 384,016 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.59 on Thursday, hitting $39.42. The company had a trading volume of 5,822,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,492,201. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $43.85. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.95 and a 200-day moving average of $37.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.99.

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

Halliburton Increases Dividend

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

Halliburton Company 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.