Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL Sells 28,350 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL decreased its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,260 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 28,350 shares during the quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Halliburton by 1.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $145,860,000 after acquiring an additional 96,394 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,775,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $2,595,000. Tejara Capital Ltd lifted its position in Halliburton by 98.8% in the third quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,305,000 after purchasing an additional 66,765 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Halliburton by 12.8% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $40,480,000 after buying an additional 186,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HAL. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $35.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price objective on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Capital One Financial raised their target price on Halliburton from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.95.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $35.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $35.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.54 and a 200-day moving average of $26.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $1,900,006.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,044,943.60. This represents a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the sale, 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. Insiders have sold 497,002 shares of company stock worth $15,889,138 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

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.