109,534 Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Acquired by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 109,534 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,978,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Halliburton by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,480,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased 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 period. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% in the third 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $27.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.96. The company has a market capitalization of $23.45 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.16 and a 1 year 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.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Griffin Securities cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark reduced their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

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.