Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,567 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 4.4% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,480,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $26.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 2.59%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton 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 approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.