New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 242,859 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,377,261 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 242,859 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.16% of Halliburton worth $37,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,748,763 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% in the third 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 valued at $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after buying an additional 995,649 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,688,000 after buying an additional 1,214,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $27.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $25.16 and a twelve month high of $41.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.