Nomura Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 28,732 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,039,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,551,234 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,394,077,000 after purchasing an additional 479,877 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% during the fourth 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. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $400,070,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Halliburton by 3.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,202,160 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $372,687,000 after acquiring an additional 265,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Halliburton by 24.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,568,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 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 $1,437,701.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.06.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $33.33 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.39. 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 PE ratio of 11.53, a PEG 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 (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.