Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 123,647 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 481,323 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 123,647 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $13,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 15,209 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 11.6% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 108,054 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,139,000 after purchasing an additional 11,224 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 20.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 508,889 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $14,783,000 after purchasing an additional 84,796 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Halliburton by 28.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 902,208 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $25,848,000 after buying an additional 12,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

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

Halliburton Trading Down 1.4 %

HAL stock opened at $25.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.97. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $23.42 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a PE ratio of 8.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Benchmark cut their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.