Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Cuts Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,488,934 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 1,082,657 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.08% of Halliburton worth $257,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisory Resource Group raised its stake in Halliburton by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 162,758 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $4,728,000 after purchasing an additional 40,182 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 49.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at $358,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 244.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $5,690,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.05.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.4 %

HAL traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.62. 22,491,441 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,886,589. The company has a market cap of $17.77 billion, a PE ratio of 7.29, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm's fifty day moving average is $24.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.98. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $39.37.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.