Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price Up 0.4% After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) rose 0.4% on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $37.80 and last traded at $37.62. Approximately 649,353 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 6,756,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.48.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.59.

Halliburton Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $33.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 434,287 shares of company stock worth $15,415,304. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 13.5% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 17,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,070 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 21.4% in the first quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 113,264 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 19,930 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 4,371.8% in the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 30,766 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,213,000 after acquiring an additional 30,078 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 12.3% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,967 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,522,000 after acquiring an additional 7,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Company 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.