Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Sells 213,322 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 30.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 486,416 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 213,322 shares during the quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Halliburton worth $16,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,806,431,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,952,805,000 after acquiring an additional 2,618,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,408,171,000 after purchasing an additional 19,237,784 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 17,317.6% during 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 period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $367,500.00. Following the sale, 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 at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $28.86 on Thursday. 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 $25.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.26 and a 200-day moving average of $34.75. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.52 and a 1-year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The company’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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on HAL shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler reduced 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, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Three investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.56.

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.