BNP Paribas Trims Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• BNP Paribas cut its Halliburton stake by 53.6% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 40,750 shares valued at about $1.15 million after selling nearly 47,000 shares.
• Halliburton reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $0.55 beating estimates of $0.50 and revenue of $5.40 billion slightly ahead of forecasts. The company also said analysts expect full-year EPS of 2.34.
• Wall Street sentiment remains mostly positive, with 18 analysts rating HAL a Buy and the consensus target price at $43.05. At the same time, several insiders sold shares recently, including a large sale by EVP Van H. Beckwith.

BNP Paribas lowered its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 53.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,750 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 46,985 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas' holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,312 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,320 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 5,370 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 22,517 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zephirin Group upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC boosted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 have sold a total of 420,837 shares of company stock valued at $16,979,135 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $40.14 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $39.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.69. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.36%.

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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