American International Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

American International Group Inc. reduced its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 236,306 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 3,072 shares during the quarter. American International Group Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $8,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $400,070,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,878,811 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $284,822,000 after buying an additional 1,568,485 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,539,062 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $91,787,000 after buying an additional 859,440 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1,507.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 852,357 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $34,520,000 after buying an additional 799,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after buying an additional 782,093 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.06.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 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 value of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Halliburton news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 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 value of $369,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $32.94 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.63 and a 200-day moving average of $36.41.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Halliburton’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

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.