John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Cuts Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 57.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,283 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 46,225 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Halliburton were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on HAL shares. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of HAL stock traded down $1.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.98. The stock had a trading volume of 16,723,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,743,452. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $27.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.68. 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 $24.75 and a 52-week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

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.