Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Takes $1.46 Million Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 50,280 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,461,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Halliburton by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $340,752,000 after buying an additional 1,681,620 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Halliburton by 1.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,342,857 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $248,042,000 after acquiring an additional 83,894 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Halliburton by 22.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after acquiring an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 15.1% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 4,279,478 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $144,516,000 after acquiring an additional 560,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $31.86 on Monday. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.26 and a one year high of $41.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Dbs Bank began coverage on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.74.

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.