M&G Plc Purchases New Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

M&G PLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 329,630 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $9,559,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $4,806,431,000 after acquiring an additional 377,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $3,952,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618,740 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Halliburton by 46.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13,552,927 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Halliburton by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $340,752,000 after buying an additional 1,681,620 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.22. 9,739,774 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,047,481. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.53. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.26 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.79.

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.