26,757 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Acquired by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 26,757 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,480,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 3.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,776 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.37.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock traded down $2.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.93. 21,908,588 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,374,500. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $19.59 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. 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 firm has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.79.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

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.