Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $729,000 Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wedbush Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,568 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,076 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,806,431,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,952,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618,740 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 46.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,408,171,000 after purchasing an additional 19,237,784 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after purchasing an additional 782,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth about $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $27.97 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.12 and a 200-day moving average of $35.15. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.52 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $24.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The company had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.53%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.88.

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.