Welch Group LLC Has $319,000 Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Welch Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,843 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 998 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after purchasing an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $25.52 on Tuesday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.27 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.35 and its 200-day moving average is $29.65. The company has a market capitalization of $22.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark dropped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.