California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,665,914 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 83,303 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.19% of Halliburton worth $45,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HAL. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of 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. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 18.2% during 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 during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $61,375,000 after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its holdings 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 worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark decreased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.37.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $25.73 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.90. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $23.42 and a 52 week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.