GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,531 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 271.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares in the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $17,722,000 after buying an additional 31,534 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Halliburton by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after buying an additional 22,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $344,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.82.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $38.72 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.84 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.41. The firm has a market cap of $34.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.