OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires 7,223 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 89.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,322 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 7,223 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several 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 in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, 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 link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Griffin Securities cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $24.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.12.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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 $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.