California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,665,914 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 83,303 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Halliburton worth $45,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Halliburton by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 43,434 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,721 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 45.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 10,677 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,315 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,115,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 70.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 10,156 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 4,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 60.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 671,942 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $19,449,000 after acquiring an additional 253,867 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.37.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL traded down $2.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.93. 21,908,588 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,374,500. The company's 50 day moving average price is $25.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $19.59 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.