Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 680,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,751 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Halliburton worth $18,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 34.2% during 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 during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 58.2% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,622 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 3,540 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 24.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 947,191 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,516,000 after buying an additional 186,538 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 8.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 132,356 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,845,000 after buying an additional 10,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Halliburton by 2.5% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 32,280 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $25.09 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $23.42 and a 12-month high of $41.56. The stock has a market cap of $21.78 billion, a PE ratio of 8.87, a P/E/G 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $26.55 and a 200 day moving average of $28.27.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 155,603 shares of company stock worth $4,041,695 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.