Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Halliburton Company by 0.6%, now holding approximately 12.07% of the company with a value of over $2.6 billion.
• Despite Vanguard's decrease, other large investors have increased their positions in Halliburton, including Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC, which boosted its holdings by 15.6% in the last quarter.
• Halliburton announced a $0.17 quarterly dividend, representing an annualized yield of 3.3%, while its earnings report for the last quarter met analysts' expectations with $0.55 EPS.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,745,903 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 586,276 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.07% of Halliburton worth $2,632,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 15.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 121.8% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,306,224 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $83,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,357 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP boosted its stake in Halliburton by 314.1% in the 4th quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 2,044,661 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $55,594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550,920 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $41,484,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Halliburton by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,356,849 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $145,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,110 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $20.89 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.59 and a 200 day moving average of $22.78. The company has a market capitalization of $17.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.76, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.12. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $32.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55. The company had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 8.37%. Halliburton's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 31.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Halliburton from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on Halliburton from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.00.

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.

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