WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 126,010 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd cut its Halliburton stake by 63.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 126,010 shares and ending with 72,700 shares worth about $2.06 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive: several analysts raised price targets, and Halliburton now has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target price of $43.27.
• Halliburton reported quarterly EPS of $0.55, beating estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share to be paid June 24, for an annualized yield of about 1.7%.

WINTON GROUP Ltd lessened its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 63.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,700 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 126,010 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd's holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 547.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Halliburton from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948 in the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $39.12 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $39.77 and its 200-day moving average is $34.61. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $20.09 and a 52-week high of $43.59. 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 has a market cap of $32.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. 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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