Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 195,259 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 65.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 103,436 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 195,259 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.0% in the third quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 7,439 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.0% in the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 10,012 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 2,363 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,508.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the company’s 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 $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,508.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction 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 three months, insiders have sold 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $33.33 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The firm has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.47 and a 200 day moving average of $36.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.06.

About Halliburton

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.