AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $4.45 Million Stock Position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 18.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 175,277 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 27,387 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% during the first quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 802,857 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $20,368,000 after acquiring an additional 150,918 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $541,000. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,102 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 51,749 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,313,000 after buying an additional 13,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $307,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HAL. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.47.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.23. 14,974,478 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,593,067. The company's 50-day moving average price is $21.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.41. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $34.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 9.31%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.45%.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.