Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 423,385 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 62,523 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $11,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $29.96. 14,132,064 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,731,000. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $28.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.18. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.51 and a 12-month high of $41.56. 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 stock has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.91.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Susquehanna cut their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.26.

Halliburton 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.