Wesbanco Bank Inc. Trims Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. decreased its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 162,307 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 23,693 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,413,000 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. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $28.56 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.05. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.51 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.91.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.26.

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.