Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $487.52 Million Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 23.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the quarter. Halliburton comprises 1.0% of Pacer Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 1.90% of Halliburton worth $487,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HAL. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 274.9% in the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $31.99. The company had a trading volume of 8,680,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,115,932. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.07. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.89.

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). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 23.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Halliburton from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.74.

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.