Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,430,000 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 29,450,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 10,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 56,707 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its position in Halliburton by 180.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 23.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.25. 9,948,370 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,729,690. The company has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.89. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $27.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.96. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.16 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company 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.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.