Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Halliburton worth $61,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 11.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 32,366 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,531 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in Halliburton by 401.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 12,775 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 10,228 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 3.8% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 90,352 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,625,000 after acquiring an additional 3,287 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 26.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 9,855 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,034 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $26.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,559,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,946,540. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.16 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.42.

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.