Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 36.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 715,212 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 191,381 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.08% of Halliburton worth $18,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,222 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 6,243 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,974 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 31,877 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 3,911 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 261.1% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,246 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Halliburton by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $138,688,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,586 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HAL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $23.20. 22,807,677 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,152,242. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.58. 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 $37.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

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.