Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 905,473 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 202,171 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $24,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 101.2% during the third 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 during the period. Blume Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Halliburton by 28.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $24.75 on Friday. Halliburton has a one year low of $23.42 and a one year high of $41.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.