Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,040,000 shares, a growth of 31.9% from the February 28th total of 20,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL traded up $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,743,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,227,134. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $41.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $437,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.