Sigma Planning Corp Reduces Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sigma Planning Corp lowered its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,998 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted 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 worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $26.34 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.16 and a 12-month high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’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 directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.