Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 3,203,224 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 244.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.51% of Halliburton worth $138,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Halliburton by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $340,752,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,620 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Halliburton by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,342,857 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $248,042,000 after acquiring an additional 83,894 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $166,815,000 after acquiring an additional 115,504 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAL. Dbs Bank started coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.58.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL traded down $0.79 during trading on Monday, reaching $27.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,764,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,135,407. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.26 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.75 and a 200-day moving average of $31.28. 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 market cap of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 23.69%.

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.