Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $83.93 Million Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,889,257 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,994 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.33% of Halliburton worth $83,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 21,162 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,210,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 85,964 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 33,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,082,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $29.23 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.10 and a 200-day moving average of $32.53. The stock has a market cap of $25.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.26 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Dbs Bank initiated coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.79.

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.