ARGA Investment Management LP Boosts Holdings in Halliburton Company $HAL

ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 10.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 890,033 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 85,937 shares during the quarter. Halliburton accounts for approximately 1.1% of ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $34,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,054,000. QV Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $3,195,000. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $639,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,983 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $827,000. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $10,568,000 after acquiring an additional 67,369 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Griffin Securities upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.18.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:HAL opened at $34.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.17 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.03. The stock has a market cap of $28.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.