Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 701,739 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 54,898 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $25,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 443.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL traded up $0.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.88. 3,936,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,077,938. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.84 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Company 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.