Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stake Lifted by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,360,415 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 370,058 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.27% of Halliburton worth $64,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 261.1% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,246 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,576 shares of company stock worth $1,631,457 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Halliburton stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.91. The company had a trading volume of 8,117,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,612,657. The company has a market cap of $17.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's fifty day moving average is $21.74 and its 200-day moving average is $25.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $37.08.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of 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 decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.53.

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.