AdvisorShares Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,850 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Advisory Resource Group raised its holdings in Halliburton by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 162,758 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $4,728,000 after acquiring an additional 40,182 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 49.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter worth $358,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $5,690,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.84.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.60. 11,296,500 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,086,582. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $38.35. The company has a market cap of $17.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's payout ratio is 28.45%.

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.