Simplicity Solutions LLC Sells 1,930 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Simplicity Solutions LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,035 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,930 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter worth $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth $34,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth $35,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 443.8% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.53.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.6 %

HAL opened at $38.65 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $37.39 and its 200 day moving average is $37.42. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.21%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton 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 sale, 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. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Halliburton

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.