Swiss National Bank Sells 90,600 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,811,300 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 90,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $101,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after buying an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after acquiring an additional 31,534 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Halliburton by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $82,525,000 after acquiring an additional 235,906 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAL. UBS Group raised their price objective on Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.59.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $36.73 on Friday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The stock has a market cap of $32.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

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.