HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 60.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 671,942 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 253,867 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Halliburton worth $19,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,027 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,480,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 28.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in Halliburton by 3.2% in the third quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on HAL. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Dbs Bank initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.74.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.78. The stock had a trading volume of 10,347,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,146,110. The firm has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.90. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.26 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.87 and a 200 day moving average of $31.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 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.