Saxon Interests Inc. Takes $912,000 Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Saxon Interests Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 25,228 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $912,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,643 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its position in Halliburton by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 37,010 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 10,093 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 22,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE HAL traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.42. 5,828,649 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,877,908. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $27.84 and a 52 week high of $43.85. The stock has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.99.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James cut their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $48.63.

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.