Cullen Investment Group LTD. Takes $2.14 Million Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 59,202 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $2,140,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $457,245,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 123.0% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 15,936,342 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $627,088,000 after acquiring an additional 8,791,319 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 65.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,217,776 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $677,520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,815,373 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 140.4% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,737,112 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $118,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,602 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter worth $68,873,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4 %

HAL stock traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.10. 5,376,238 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,176,535. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $27.84 and a 12-month high of $43.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Halliburton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 23.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Halliburton from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Halliburton 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.