Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 5.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,710,252 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,432 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.20% of Halliburton worth $34,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $109,379,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 217.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,641,111 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $116,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,178,746 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Halliburton by 762.7% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,265,132 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $66,543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886,666 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth $72,637,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 134.7% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,734,069 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $76,100,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142,939 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $29.00 on Thursday. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $30.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.28. The company has a market capitalization of $24.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. Halliburton had a return on equity of 20.12% and a net margin of 5.91%.The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Rothschild Redb raised shares of Halliburton to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.55.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $246,938.06. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 333,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,302,095.92. This trade represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

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.