180,801 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Purchased by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 180,801 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,916,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mystic Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 98,330 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,830 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 42,683 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 138,837 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,775,000 after acquiring an additional 18,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthTrust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $24.99 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.16. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $23.42 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark reduced their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.