John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 161,900 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 66.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,508 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 161,900 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,027 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 28.8% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Halliburton by 3.1% during the second quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 10,847 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 11,842 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.2% during the third quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.2 %

HAL traded up $0.69 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.87. 11,473,273 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,115,932. The company's fifty day moving average price is $29.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.74.

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.