Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Acquired by Groupe la Francaise

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise increased its Halliburton stake by 60.6% in the second quarter, buying 127,282 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 337,282 shares valued at approximately $11.45 million. Institutional investors collectively own 85.23% of HAL.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view, with 18 Buy, six Hold and one Sell rating. Halliburton has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $43.10, above its reported share price of $37.05.
• Halliburton exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $0.55 and revenue of $5.71 billion, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share. Two executives also sold shares under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Groupe la Francaise increased its position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 60.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 337,282 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 127,282 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Halliburton were worth $11,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Halliburton by 128.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,284,612 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $89,077,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,095 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $827,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $10,568,000 after purchasing an additional 67,369 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,731,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,274,017 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $64,306,000 after purchasing an additional 397,282 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on HAL shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price objective on Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.10.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at $4,166,235.70. The trade was a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of HAL opened at $37.05 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $21.46 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.76.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Halliburton's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.60%.

Halliburton 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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