Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,889,257 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 63,994 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.33% of Halliburton worth $83,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after buying an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $340,752,000 after buying an additional 1,681,620 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $248,042,000 after buying an additional 83,894 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.8 %

HAL opened at $25.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. Halliburton has a one year low of $25.51 and a one year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $22.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.00.

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 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 analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.62%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Dbs Bank assumed coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.58.

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.