Waverly Advisors LLC Invests $919,000 in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 33,791 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $919,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $7,584,000 after buying an additional 42,876 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,375,000 after buying an additional 80,567 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value 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 $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 65,576 shares of company stock worth $1,631,457. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.53.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Halliburton stock traded down $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $19.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,800,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,675,101. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $21.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.45. The firm has a market cap of $17.01 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $37.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.28 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is 28.45%.

Halliburton Company 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.