23,425 Shares in Halliburton Company $HAL Bought by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 23,425 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 547.3% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 111.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $5,985,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,101,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,499,455.28. This trade represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at $13,538,550. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 497,002 shares of company stock valued at $15,889,138. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. Argus raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Zephirin Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $35.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.76.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.4%

HAL opened at $33.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $35.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.72.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.