HM Payson & Co. Buys 3,300 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 19.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,500 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 7,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Halliburton by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 52,297 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 6,081 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 22,313 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 44,538 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,287 shares of company stock valued at $2,298,204 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Down 4.3 %

HAL stock traded down $1.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.82. 11,236,984 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,151,642. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market cap of $28.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.03. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $31.42 and a 1-year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The firm had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on HAL. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.35.

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.