Eventide Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 65,344 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,862,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Griffin Securities upgraded Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 391,932 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,453. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of HAL stock opened at $39.52 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $33.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08. Halliburton Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.09 and a fifty-two week high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

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.