Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 63,279 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,371 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,279 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’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 value of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of HAL stock opened at $21.05 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $41.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $24.67 and a 200 day moving average of $27.36. The stock has a market cap of $18.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

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.