Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. trimmed its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,760 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 10,122 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% in the third 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. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake 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 valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $24.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.12. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, 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 transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % 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 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.