Martin & Co. Inc. TN Cuts Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Martin & Co. Inc. TN lessened its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 152,897 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 10,502 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during 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 buying an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,563,000 after buying an additional 56,707 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $487,522,000 after buying an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.5 %

Halliburton stock opened at $26.16 on Monday. The firm’s 50-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. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.16 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $22.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.