Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 24.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,386,621 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 1,726,015 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.61% of Halliburton worth $146,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. 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 research note on Friday, January 3rd. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.37.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Halliburton Trading Up 14.4 %

NYSE HAL opened at $22.04 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.49. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $18.72 and a 12 month high of $41.55. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.79, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Halliburton 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.