161,102 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 161,102 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,380,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,584,000 after purchasing an additional 42,876 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position 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. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 11.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, 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 three months, insiders have sold 65,576 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,457. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.84.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $21.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $38.35. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

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.