Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $1.65 Million Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 58,395 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,650,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.27.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $39.52 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 1 year low of $20.09 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.03. The company has a market cap of $33.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.69.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 416,991 shares of company stock worth $16,846,948. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

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.