John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Raises Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,748 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 28,588 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $5,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1,134.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 1,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of HAL traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.08. The stock had a trading volume of 6,567,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,103,129. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.06. The firm has a market cap of $34.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.42. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $27.84 and a 12-month high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Atb Cap Markets cut Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.53.

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.