Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Argent Trust Co

Argent Trust Co reduced its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,691 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 522 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $834,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 223,334 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $6,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,707 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 76.5% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,657 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 5,918 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 40,505 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 273,119 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,934,000 after acquiring an additional 15,849 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Barclays cut their price target on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.37.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $21.05 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $41.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $24.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.36.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 24.03%.

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.