Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Lowers Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 905,473 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 202,171 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.10% of Halliburton worth $24,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on HAL. Barclays dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Benchmark lowered their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Griffin Securities lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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 Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $24.75 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $23.42 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $21.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.32 and its 200 day moving average is $28.08.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.