Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 1,214,586 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 31.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after buying an additional 1,214,586 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.58% of Halliburton worth $138,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $503,856,000 after buying an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Halliburton by 2.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Halliburton by 22.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $160,367,000 after buying an additional 995,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HAL. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $26.16. 8,289,508 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,614,222. The company's fifty day moving average is $27.30 and its 200-day moving average is $29.07. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

About Halliburton

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.