Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Acquired by Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 440.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,227 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 1,815 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,879 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,803 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 286.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 318,337 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $11,508,000 after acquiring an additional 16,860 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its stake in Halliburton by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 8,589 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 398,689 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $14,413,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned 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 $42.56.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $28.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.89. 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 12 month low of $27.52 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.66.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.53%.

Halliburton 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.