QRG Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,239 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,583 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HAL. Capital World Investors lifted 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 acquiring an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% during the first 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 boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 46.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,408,171,000 after purchasing an additional 19,237,784 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 17,317.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Halliburton by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $340,752,000 after buying an additional 1,681,620 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Johnson Rice raised Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Halliburton from $46.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.79.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of HAL stock opened at $29.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.26 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $25.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. Halliburton’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.59%.

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.