Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,524,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 465,339 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Halliburton were worth $152,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 201,100 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $6,793,000 after buying an additional 51,679 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 17,317.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552,927 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 77.6% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,863 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 4,746 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Halliburton by 146.0% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 842,355 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,455,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter worth about $249,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total value of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.17.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $29.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.52 and a 1 year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The firm had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. Halliburton’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

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.