Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Bought by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management dramatically increased its Halliburton stake in Q4, ending with 29.8 million shares worth about $841.3 million and representing roughly 3.54% of the company.
• Halliburton’s latest quarterly results beat earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $0.55 versus $0.50 expected and revenue of $5.40 billion versus $5.37 billion forecast.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45; Halliburton shares recently traded near $41.71.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 82,596.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned approximately 3.54% of Halliburton worth $841,339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 7.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 39.0% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Halliburton by 25.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 10,408 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 309.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 52,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter valued at about $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 187,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,338,645.86. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 222,488 shares of company stock worth $8,789,305. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore raised Halliburton from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.45.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $19.38 and a 1-year high of $42.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Halliburton's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

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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