Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stake Boosted by Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 103.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,728 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,475 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in Halliburton by 113.8% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 3,447 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 81,015 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. KLCM Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $17,722,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 37,300 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after buying an additional 3,680 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.53.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:HAL traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $38.04. 4,700,952 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,136,037. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.40. The company has a market cap of $33.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton 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 transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated 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 $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.