AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 110,487 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its Halliburton stake by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 110,487 shares and leaving it with 539,808 shares worth about $15.3 million.
• Halliburton reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.55 versus the $0.50 estimate and revenue of $5.40 billion, while analysts now expect full-year EPS of 2.32.
• The company continues to draw a mostly positive outlook from Wall Street, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $42.45; Halliburton also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, or $0.68 annually.

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd cut its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 17.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 539,808 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 110,487 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.06% of Halliburton worth $15,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $19.38 and a 1-year high of $42.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.24 and a 200 day moving average of $33.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.Halliburton's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,488 shares of company stock worth $8,789,305. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.