Advisory Resource Group Grows Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Advisory Resource Group lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,758 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 40,182 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 17,317.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $460,462,000 after buying an additional 13,552,927 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 24,954.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,730,900 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $92,250,000 after buying an additional 2,720,000 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,132,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $340,752,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.0 %

HAL stock opened at $29.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.78 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.87 and a 200-day moving average of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.26 and a one year high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on HAL. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Dbs Bank initiated coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.58.

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.