Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Short Interest Update

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during 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 trading volume, of 10,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Halliburton by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,480,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $26.16. The company had a trading volume of 8,289,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,614,222. The company has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.07. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $25.16 and a 1-year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.