Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Declines By 19.1%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,500,000 shares, a drop of 19.1% from the February 13th total of 25,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 in the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $621,000. Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its holdings in Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 23.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after buying an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

HAL stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.04. The company had a trading volume of 9,792,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,558,783. The stock has a market cap of $21.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.41 and a 200-day moving average of $28.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a one year low of $23.42 and a one year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.