Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 166,130 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,537 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of HAL opened at $24.75 on Monday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $23.42 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $21.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

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 $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 in the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.