OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Purchases 7,223 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 89.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,322 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,223 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,916,000. Mystic Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 98,330 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,830 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 42,683 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $24.99 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.83, 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.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.03%.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Griffin Securities cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average 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.