Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Holdings Increased by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 32.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,462,365 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 360,523 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.17% of Halliburton worth $39,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Halliburton by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $437,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.84.

Halliburton Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE HAL traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $19.85. 16,598,445 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,137,407. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $38.35. The business's fifty day moving average price is $22.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.36. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $17.07 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. Analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Company 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.