5,153 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Bought by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,153 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 443.8% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,287 shares of company stock worth $1,930,704 in the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $33.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.06.

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.