AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Cuts Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lowered its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 34.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,890 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 76,509 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,895,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,823,557. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.16 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $23.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.89. The company's fifty day moving average is $27.19 and its 200-day moving average is $28.99.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton 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.