Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.13 Million Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 206.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,440 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,953 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Halliburton by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 96,490 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,588,000 after purchasing an additional 25,284 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $728,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,375,000 after buying an additional 80,567 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 105,399 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,866,000 after buying an additional 1,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.58.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of HAL opened at $20.50 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $37.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $20.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.92.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio 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.

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