Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Grows By 5.2%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 23,200,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the November 15th total of 22,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,790,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $597,234,000 after buying an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,342,857 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $248,042,000 after purchasing an additional 83,894 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $166,815,000 after purchasing an additional 115,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $27.87. The company had a trading volume of 8,472,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,134,203. The company's 50-day moving average price is $29.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.28. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.26 and a one year high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group lowered shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Dbs Bank assumed coverage on Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.58.

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.