Westerkirk Capital Inc. Grows Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• Westerkirk Capital increased its Halliburton stake by 50.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 29,900 additional shares to bring its total to 89,400 shares valued at about $2.53 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is bullish on Halliburton, with 18 analysts rating it a Buy and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and average price target of $43.27.
• Halliburton recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $0.55 versus $0.50 expected, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, or $0.68 annually.

Westerkirk Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 50.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,400 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 29,900 shares during the period. Westerkirk Capital Inc.'s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Griffin Securities raised Halliburton from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zephirin Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.27.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $40.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.80 and a 200 day moving average of $34.70. The company has a market cap of $33.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.09 and a 12-month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 37.36%.

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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