Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 84,771 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 69.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 84,771 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $457,245,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 123.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 15,936,342 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $627,088,000 after purchasing an additional 8,791,319 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 65.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,217,776 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $677,520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,815,373 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 140.4% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,737,112 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $118,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,602 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth $68,873,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4 %

HAL stock opened at $39.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.18 and a 200-day moving average of $37.42. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems.