Holocene Advisors LP Invests $3.12 Million in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 107,222 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $3,115,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 17,317.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $460,462,000 after acquiring an additional 13,552,927 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 24,954.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,730,900 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $92,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,000 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,132,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock traded down $1.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.78. 10,342,688 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,142,308. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $29.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.67. The firm has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.90. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.26 and a 1-year 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.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its 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 analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.74.

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.