Park National Corp OH Boosts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Park National Corp OH increased its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 321,003 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,789 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH's holdings in Halliburton were worth $8,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 31,210 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 79,979 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 190,913 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $5,191,000 after buying an additional 38,172 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 91.5% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 2,286 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 10,736 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 17,484 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 7,768 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,576 shares of company stock worth $1,631,457 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded up $0.50 on Monday, hitting $20.09. The company had a trading volume of 6,695,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,109,610. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $37.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $21.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. Citigroup reduced their target price on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.