National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 207,452 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 84.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 454,004 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 207,452 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $13,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Country Trust Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $29.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.90. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.26 and a 1 year high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.58.

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.