Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Trims Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,555 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 2,937 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,408,171,000 after purchasing an additional 19,237,784 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Johnson Rice upgraded Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.88.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.52 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.96. The company has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 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.