Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 58,395 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,650,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $1,054,000. Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $2,091,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $1,010,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at $1,579,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $3,195,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on HAL. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Capital One Financial raised their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Argus raised their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at $40,521,080. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $39.52 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $20.09 and a one year high of $43.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.84 and a 200 day moving average of $35.03. The company has a market capitalization of $33.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

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.