Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 14,280 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 148.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,902 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 14,280 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 49.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% during the third 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,889,257 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $83,933,000 after acquiring an additional 63,994 shares during the period. Finally, Park National Corp OH boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 302,214 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $8,217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,869 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark decreased their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.84.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $21.32. 5,360,995 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,334,558. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 7.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $38.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.13.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.