Sanders Capital LLC Acquires 52,915 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,997,640 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 52,915 shares during the period. Halliburton makes up approximately 1.0% of Sanders Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Sanders Capital LLC owned 2.73% of Halliburton worth $697,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $54,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.81. The company had a trading volume of 11,141,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,166,582. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $27.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.89. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $29.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.89. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.26 and a one year high of $41.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Halliburton from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Halliburton from $46.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.74.

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.