Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Bought by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 27.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $50,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.53.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $40.84 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.38 and a 200-day moving average of $37.46. 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 company has a market capitalization of $36.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.84 and a 1-year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.21%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.