Westpac Banking Corp Has $69,000 Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 87.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,538 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 18,128 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Halliburton were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 42,876 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% during 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. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Griffin Securities cut shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark cut their price target 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. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.37.

Halliburton Trading Up 14.4 %

NYSE:HAL traded up $2.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $22.04. 20,568,877 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,531,933. The company has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.79, 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. The company's 50 day moving average is $24.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.49. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $41.55.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 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.