Delta Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Delta Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,202 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $160,367,000 after buying an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Halliburton by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,688,000 after buying an additional 1,214,586 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 2.8 %

Halliburton stock opened at $26.25 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $27.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.16 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark dropped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

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.