HM Payson & Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

HM Payson & Co. decreased its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 55.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,677 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 14,723 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 244.5% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,132,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Halliburton by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,688,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,586 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after acquiring an additional 995,649 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $25.00 on Monday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.81 and a 200 day moving average of $28.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.