Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Halliburton stake by 90.2% in the second quarter, selling 2.1 million shares and retaining 226,637 shares valued at $7.7 million. Institutional investors still own 85.23% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 18 Buy ratings, six Holds and one Sell rating. Halliburton has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $43.10.
• Halliburton beat quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $0.55 versus $0.54 expected and revenue of $5.71 billion versus $5.50 billion forecast. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.17, equivalent to a 2.0% annualized yield.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 90.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 226,637 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 2,097,596 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $169,304,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 12,413.2% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $162,325,000 after buying an additional 4,129,988 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth $158,525,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. HSBC boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Halliburton from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.10.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. The trade was a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $33.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.83 and a 200 day moving average of $36.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Halliburton Company has a 12 month low of $20.53 and a 12 month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The company's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 35.60%.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company's activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.

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