Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Acquired by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,124,538 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,787 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.13% of Halliburton worth $30,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $19.93 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.78. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $19.05 and a 12-month high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HAL. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.37.

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.