Oxford Asset Management LLP Acquires New Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,293 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisory Resource Group grew its position in Halliburton by 32.8% during the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 162,758 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,728,000 after buying an additional 40,182 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 49.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 3,032 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $358,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $5,690,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % 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. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.68.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL traded up $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $19.91. 20,487,829 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,052,369. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $38.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.36 and a 200-day moving average of $26.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.42%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

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.