Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Drops By 6.9%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,430,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the January 15th total of 29,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after buying an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC grew 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 valued at $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 56,707 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew 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 valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew 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 valued at $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.59 on Tuesday, reaching $26.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,929,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,828,130. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.02. 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 has a market capitalization of $23.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Halliburton’s payout ratio 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.