Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 915,900 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,332,179 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 915,900 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Halliburton worth $2,836,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $597,234,000 after buying an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after purchasing an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,435,299 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $147,786,000 after purchasing an additional 187,150 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark decreased their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $25.65 on Wednesday. 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 $23.42 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The stock has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.01.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors 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 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

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.