Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Decreases Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 396,091 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 28,176 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $10,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 244.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $32,683,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,100,693 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,586 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $25.08 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $23.42 and a 12-month high of $41.56. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $21.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.95.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target 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. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.