Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 3,751,033 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 67.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,769,350 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 3,751,033 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.20% of Halliburton worth $48,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HAL. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 8.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 8.2% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 24,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 6.7% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 144,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,203,000 after purchasing an additional 9,118 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 7.6% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 67,765 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 171.7% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 30,852 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 19,496 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $25.04 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $21.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.14. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.