Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 149,190 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management trimmed its Halliburton stake by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 149,190 shares but still holding more than 22.3 million shares valued at about $627.4 million.
• Insider selling was also notable, with Director Tobi M. Young and VP Timothy Mckeon both selling shares; Halliburton insiders sold 420,837 shares worth roughly $17 million over the past three months.
• Halliburton recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $0.55 versus $0.50 expected, and it declared a $0.17 quarterly dividend, implying a 1.8% annualized yield.

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,288,010 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 149,190 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.65% of Halliburton worth $627,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% 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. Insiders sold a total of 420,837 shares of company stock valued at $16,979,135 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $38.76 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $39.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 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 Company has a 1 year low of $19.44 and a 1 year high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, May 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, April 10th. Eighteen 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.05.

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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