Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Increases By 31.9%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,040,000 shares, an increase of 31.9% from the February 28th total of 20,500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.37.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL traded down $2.04 on Friday, hitting $20.35. 8,879,746 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,293,308. The stock has a market cap of $17.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.86. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business'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 transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 26,643 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 10.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 28,350 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth $1,461,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Halliburton by 12.5% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 395,772 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $11,497,000 after purchasing an additional 43,895 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $4,480,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.