Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 44.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,518,288 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 1,995,272 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.29% of Halliburton worth $68,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in Halliburton by 48.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $7,584,000 after acquiring an additional 42,876 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,375,000 after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its position in Halliburton by 180.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.03 on Monday, hitting $19.95. The company had a trading volume of 19,055,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,413,106. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $25.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. UBS Group cut shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.37.

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.