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

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,113,403 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 893,181 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.79% of Halliburton worth $257,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 443.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Raymond James reduced their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price 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. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, 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.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL traded up $0.34 on Monday, hitting $38.89. The stock had a trading volume of 3,938,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,077,958. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $34.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.88 and a 200-day moving average of $37.33.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

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.