Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Buys New Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 26,771 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 56.5% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 56,707 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value 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 approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $26.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.97. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid 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 2.54%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.