Trexquant Investment LP Trims Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 50.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 380,568 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 391,844 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $10,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,538,632 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $584,139,000 after purchasing an additional 908,271 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after buying an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $437,587,000 after buying an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Halliburton by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $299,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $25.73 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.90. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.