Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Boosts Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its Halliburton stake by 286.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 48,470 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 65,406 shares valued at about $1.85 million.
• Halliburton reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.55 beating estimates and revenue of $5.40 billion slightly topping forecasts. Analysts now expect the company to earn about $2.32 per share this year.
• The stock has drawn mixed signals: several analysts raised price targets and maintain bullish ratings, but company insiders have recently sold shares, including multiple transactions over the past 90 days totaling more than 222,000 shares.

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 286.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,406 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 48,470 shares during the period. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan's holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burford Brothers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $4,637,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 175,467 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,959,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 58,120 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 73.3% in the fourth quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 29,364 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 12,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $41.71 on Monday. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $19.38 and a 1 year high of $42.46. The company has a market cap of $34.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.24 and a 200-day moving average of $33.16.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company 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 company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays raised shares of Halliburton from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

About Halliburton

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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