First Trust Advisors LP Has $25.56 Million Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,253,919 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,361 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $25,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 94.8% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,882 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the period. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 109.5% during the second quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,900 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 252.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,994 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,428 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $4,443,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,562,425.98. This trade represents a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $246,938.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 333,528 shares in the company, valued at $9,302,095.92. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HAL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Zephirin Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Melius Research assumed coverage on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.55.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $29.00 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $30.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.81.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

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.