Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Drops By 19.1%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,500,000 shares, a decrease of 19.1% from the February 13th total of 25,330,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 10,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 in the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of HAL opened at $25.23 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91, 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. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $23.42 and a 1-year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

About Halliburton

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.