Sage Capital Advisors llc Takes $7.47 Million Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sage Capital Advisors llc bought a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 274,710 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $7,469,000. Halliburton comprises 1.9% of Sage Capital Advisors llc's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $4,563,000 after buying an additional 56,707 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 146.0% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 842,355 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $28,455,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Halliburton by 105.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 186,961 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $6,316,000 after purchasing an additional 95,864 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 2,418.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 78,387 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,277,000 after purchasing an additional 75,275 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on HAL. Griffin Securities lowered Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Halliburton from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.95.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.99. The stock had a trading volume of 12,314,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,337,172. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.33. The stock has a market cap of $23.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.51 and a 52-week high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

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.