Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,950 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 47,800 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its position in Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 3.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $621,000. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 56.5% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 56,707 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of HAL opened at $26.25 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.90. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HAL. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Halliburton 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.