266,690 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Purchased by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 266,690 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $7,236,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Halliburton by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $7,584,000 after buying an additional 42,876 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $61,375,000 after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark dropped their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $20.50. 3,893,792 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,552,426. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.42. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $41.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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 given 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 yield of 3.32%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.03%.

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.