Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $3.06 Million Stock Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its Halliburton stake by 164% in the fourth quarter, ending with 108,397 shares valued at about $3.06 million.
• Wall Street sentiment on Halliburton remains constructive, with several analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.27.
• Halliburton reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.55 per share on revenue of $5.40 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share payable June 24.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 164.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,397 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 67,343 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Halliburton were worth $3,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,054,000. Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,091,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,579,000. QV Investors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,195,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 9.4% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $639,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,983 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised Halliburton from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. HSBC increased 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. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.27.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock valued at $16,846,948. Insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of HAL stock opened at $39.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.69. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $20.09 and a one year high of $43.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.55. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

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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