Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 280.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 759,684 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 560,229 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.09% of Halliburton worth $20,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL traded down $0.39 on Tuesday, hitting $19.48. The company had a trading volume of 16,525,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,162,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company's fifty day moving average price is $22.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.36. The company has a market capitalization of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 6.88, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $38.35.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company 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 3.49%. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 in the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.