Ashburton Jersey Ltd Lowers Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lowered its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 300,040 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 9,903 shares during the quarter. Halliburton accounts for about 5.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $10,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,385 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.6 %

HAL traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $36.54. 2,059,812 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,029,170. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.84 and a one year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.59.

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.