Moors & Cabot Inc. Trims Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lessened its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 61,232 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 11,813 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Country Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 274.9% during the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $31.18 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.26 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.07.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 23.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the subject of several research reports. 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 research note on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna decreased their target price 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.