Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 649,420 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 51,543 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.08% of Halliburton worth $16,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.4%

HAL traded up $0.50 during trading on Monday, hitting $21.02. 15,047,523 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,984,660. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.87. The firm has a market cap of $18.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $37.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.58.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton 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 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 approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

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.