Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,332,179 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 915,900 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.88% of Halliburton worth $2,836,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its stake in Halliburton by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $621,000. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its stake in Halliburton by 180.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after buying an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Finally, Scott & Selber Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 109.9% during the fourth quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 81,335 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,211,000 after buying an additional 42,590 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE HAL opened at $25.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $23.42 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

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.