Meridian Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,401 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,611 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,401 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $24.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $26.85 and its 200 day moving average is $28.57. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $23.42 and a 12 month high of $41.56.

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 dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. Griffin Securities cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

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.