Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,248,149 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 464,195 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.59% of Halliburton worth $152,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 274.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

HAL opened at $31.94 on Monday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.26 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.45 and a 200 day moving average of $31.97. The firm has a market cap of $28.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.74.

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.