Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Purchases 23,340 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 48.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 56.5% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 56,707 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 2,418.9% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 78,387 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after acquiring an additional 75,275 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,181,000. Finally, Sage Capital Advisors llc bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,469,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $25.99 on Monday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on HAL shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.