Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Position Boosted by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,876 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $621,000. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scott & Selber Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 109.9% in the fourth quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 81,335 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 42,590 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 valued at $5,321,170 over the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of HAL opened at $25.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $25.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $23.42 and a 12-month high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. 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.