First Trust Advisors LP Sells 206,665 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,138,081 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 206,665 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.13% of Halliburton worth $30,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:HAL traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $20.62. 3,110,040 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,926,248. The company's 50 day moving average is $23.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.68. The company has a market capitalization of $17.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $38.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. The business 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was 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 $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

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.