Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN

Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN decreased its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,638 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $72,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HAL. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 17,317.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after acquiring an additional 13,552,927 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,132,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $160,367,000 after buying an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of HAL opened at $27.82 on Tuesday. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $25.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $24.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average is $28.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.23.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. Halliburton’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.95.

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.