Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by LGT Group Foundation

LGT Group Foundation lowered its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,604 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,576 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $172,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 64.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 24,659 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 9,709 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 392.1% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,159 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 6,501 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,542 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 63,947 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 15,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 5.3 %

NYSE HAL opened at $24.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $24.75 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

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.