New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 68,592 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 879,398 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 68,592 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $23,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its stake in Halliburton by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 54,762 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 8,582 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 26,801 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $122,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in Halliburton by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,695 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 348,698 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $9,342,000 after purchasing an additional 14,215 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’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 $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $26.16 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.16 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.15.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid 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 currently 24.03%.

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.