DJE Kapital AG Acquires New Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• DJE Kapital AG opened a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter, buying 284,103 shares valued at about $11.4 million.
• Halliburton reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.55 EPS versus estimates of $0.50 and revenue of $5.40 billion, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share.
• Institutional ownership remains very high at 85.23%, even as several insiders sold shares in recent months and analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a target price of $43.27.

DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 284,103 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $11,414,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth about $1,054,000. QV Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,195,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $827,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $10,568,000 after purchasing an additional 67,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 172.6% in the 4th quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 110,000 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $3,109,000 after purchasing an additional 69,644 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL opened at $35.20 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $37.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.71. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.17 and a 12-month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,927,732.07. This represents a 17.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at $6,036,019.94. This represents 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 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on HAL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.27.

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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