Synovus Financial Corp Sells 58,760 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Synovus Financial Corp lessened its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 44.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,833 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 58,760 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 33.3% in 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 during the period. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.95.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,169,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,715,178. The company has a market cap of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.13. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $39.37.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued 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 yield of 3.02%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.