Skylands Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Skylands Capital LLC trimmed its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,950 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 47,800 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $26.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.90. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.16 and a 12-month high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.