Park Avenue Securities LLC Invests $402,000 in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 14,774 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 440.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,227 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,815 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 77.6% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,863 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 4,746 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 34.6% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 201,100 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $6,793,000 after acquiring an additional 51,679 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Halliburton by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 889,398 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $30,044,000 after purchasing an additional 32,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Halliburton by 59.5% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 170,477 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 63,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of HAL opened at $27.83 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 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 1.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.03. The firm has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.91.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

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.