Insider Selling: Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) EVP Sells 198,349 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Halliburton EVP Van Beckwith sold 198,349 shares on May 15 at an average price of $41.29, totaling about $8.19 million. The sale reduced his ownership by 57.57% and was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• HAL shares were trading higher, up 2.4% to $42.76 in Monday trading, near the stock’s 52-week high of $42.93. The company also has a market cap of about $35.72 billion.
• Halliburton’s recent fundamentals and outlook remain solid: it beat quarterly EPS estimates with $0.55 per share and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.17, equal to a 1.6% annualized yield. Analysts remain generally bullish, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a target price of $42.45.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) EVP Van Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. This trade represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE HAL traded up $1.00 during trading on Monday, hitting $42.76. The company had a trading volume of 12,069,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,840,956. 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 one year low of $19.38 and a one year high of $42.93. The company has a market cap of $35.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.73. The company's fifty day moving average is $38.24 and its 200-day moving average is $33.16.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 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 business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,794 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,456 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,312 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,320 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,363 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised shares of Halliburton from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.45.

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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