Amundi Increases Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Amundi lifted its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Amundi owned about 1.49% of Halliburton worth $353,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $621,000. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 28,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $487,522,000 after buying an additional 3,150,986 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $25.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $23.42 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.81 and a 200 day moving average of $28.51.

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 given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on HAL. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.