Swiss National Bank Buys 133,500 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its Halliburton stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, buying 133,500 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 2,469,900 shares worth about $96.3 million.
• Halliburton reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.55 per share versus the $0.50 estimate, with revenue of $5.40 billion, slightly above expectations. Analysts now expect the company to earn $2.36 per share for the full fiscal year.
• Wall Street sentiment remains generally positive, with 19 buy ratings and an average analyst target price of $43.27. The stock also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, equal to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,469,900 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 133,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.30% of Halliburton worth $96,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Halliburton by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $3,114,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $878,806,000 after purchasing an additional 443,064 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $841,339,000 after buying an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,806,168 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $446,682,000 after buying an additional 1,943,845 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Griffin Securities raised Halliburton from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.27.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:HAL opened at $35.20 on Tuesday. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $20.17 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $37.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.38.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This trade represents a 57.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Halliburton

Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company's activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.

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