Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 212,241 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 212,241 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,749,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter worth about $2,812,327,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Halliburton by 4.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,870,444 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,930,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463,137 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the second quarter worth about $345,941,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $337,486,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Halliburton by 4.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,502,988 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $370,556,000 after acquiring an additional 367,701 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $31.89 on Friday. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $24.92 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 18.36%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 28.45%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $1,844,751.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,166,235.70. This represents a 30.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Freedom Broker raised Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas through technologies and services used throughout the life cycle of a well.

Halliburton operates through two primary business segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Its offerings include cementing, stimulation, well completion, production enhancement, drilling services, drilling fluids, well testing, wireline and perforating services, formation evaluation, and project management.