John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 46,225 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 57.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,283 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 46,225 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 63,947 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,739,000 after buying an additional 15,439 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Halliburton by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 157,502 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,282,000 after buying an additional 8,780 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 56,686 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after buying an additional 2,861 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 567,259 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $15,424,000 after buying an additional 75,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,836 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $26.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.16 and a 52-week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.