Mariner LLC Lowers Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mariner LLC lessened its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,214 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 84,272 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.1 %

HAL traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.05. 5,606,106 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,872,358. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a PE ratio of 7.43, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $39.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.93.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Halliburton 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.