Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Short Interest Update

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,430,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 29,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on HAL shares. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

HAL stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $26.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,289,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,614,222. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.07. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The company has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.