Capital World Investors Sells 14,298,046 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Capital World Investors lowered its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,937,885 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 14,298,046 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned about 11.38% of Halliburton worth $2,717,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,776 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,036 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 42,683 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,161,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $20.59. 13,212,206 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,851,067. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $24.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $39.37.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 3.30%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.05.

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.