Vestcor Inc Has $363,000 Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Vestcor Inc reduced its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,337 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 4,754 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 84.7% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 284,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,747,000 after buying an additional 130,651 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,612 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 680,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $18,508,000 after acquiring an additional 8,751 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,547,656 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,081,000 after purchasing an additional 5,650 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $25.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.21. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56. 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 company has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays cut their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton 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.