Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Halliburton Company $HAL

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 979,995 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 263,882 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $24,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,369 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 7.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 7,374 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Halliburton by 3.3% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 16,390 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the period. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 4.3% during the second quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,590 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 2.6% during the second quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 22,307 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $35.01 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $35.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $29.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.16.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $35.00 target price on Halliburton in a report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zephirin Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $88,842.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $479,849.31. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 497,002 shares of company stock worth $15,889,138 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.