ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 194,993 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 12,647 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $5,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 24,372,694 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $662,694,000 after acquiring an additional 375,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,538,632 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $584,139,000 after acquiring an additional 908,271 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $437,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Halliburton by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $353,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,576 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,457 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.53.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.91. 8,117,220 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,612,657. The business's 50-day moving average price is $21.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.62. The company has a market cap of $17.12 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. 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.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

Halliburton Profile

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.