Sterling Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 55.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,258 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 18,582 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.95.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $21.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.51, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.57 and a 200 day moving average of $27.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $40.17.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.