Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 21,562 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 636,238 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 21,562 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $15,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,147,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617,696 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,287,989 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $617,269,000 after buying an additional 346,218 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,342,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $453,461,000 after acquiring an additional 92,549 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,903,833 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $242,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,928 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 85.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $175,490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969,759 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on HAL. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Redburn Partners set a $35.00 price target on Halliburton in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Zephirin Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, HSBC set a $30.00 target price on Halliburton and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $246,938.06. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 333,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,302,095.92. This trade represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $4,443,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,562,425.98. This represents a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of HAL opened at $27.71 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.70. The company has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 0.81. Halliburton Company has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $30.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. Halliburton had a return on equity of 20.12% and a net margin of 5.91%.The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 45.03%.

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.