Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 877 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 17.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,284 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 877 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Halliburton by 46.0% in the 1st 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. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $850,927,000 after purchasing an additional 782,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.88.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $28.02 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.52 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.10. The firm has a market cap of $24.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

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.