HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 21,788 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 815,392 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 21,788 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $20,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $145,860,000 after purchasing an additional 96,394 shares in the last quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton by 98.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after purchasing an additional 66,765 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter worth $1,775,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $40,480,000 after buying an additional 186,105 shares during the period. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at $1,010,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 target price on Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Evercore upped their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.95.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $35.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.88. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $35.61. The firm has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.77.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total value of $88,842.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,043 shares in the company, valued at $479,849.31. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 337,002 shares of company stock worth $11,445,938 in the last 90 days. 0.56% 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.