Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Stock Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its Halliburton stake by 33.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 2,914,220 shares worth about $82.4 million.
• Halliburton reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.55 per share on revenue of $5.40 billion, slightly topping analyst estimates despite a small year-over-year revenue decline.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $42.45.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 33.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,914,220 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 727,073 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.35% of Halliburton worth $82,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $19.38 and a 1 year high of $42.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $38.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Evercore raised shares of Halliburton from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Capital One Financial upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Eighteen 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.45.

Halliburton Company Profile

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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