Townsend & Associates Inc Buys 498 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Townsend & Associates Inc raised its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,490 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 498 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,691 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 927 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Halliburton by 3.1% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 325,771 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $13,194,000 after purchasing an additional 9,895 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Halliburton by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 88,275 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,536,000 after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the period. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 17.4% during the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 2,034 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $37.49. 2,344,961 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,900,572. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.07. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.01.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.59.

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.