Blue Capital Inc. Buys New Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,623 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 49.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth about $358,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $5,690,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $83,933,000 after purchasing an additional 63,994 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

HAL traded down $0.10 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.34. The stock had a trading volume of 19,330,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,240,659. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $38.35. The company has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a PE ratio of 6.83, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

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. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. On average, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 28.45%.

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.