Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 13,565 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,993 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 13,565 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $8,591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HAL. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Halliburton by 271.0% in the 4th 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. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $344,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 13.1% in the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $82,525,000 after buying an additional 235,906 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,342,520 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $135,372,000 after buying an additional 44,901 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $1,869,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets cut Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Raymond James decreased their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:HAL traded up $0.59 on Friday, hitting $39.42. The stock had a trading volume of 5,828,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,705,824. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.18 and its 200 day moving average is $37.56. The company has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $27.84 and a 52 week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.21%.

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.