Atala Financial Inc Purchases New Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 13,179 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 55,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 2,794 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.2% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 48,305 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after buying an additional 1,928 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth about $1,169,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL opened at $24.29 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $23.42 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The stock has a market cap of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.34. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’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 value of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,603 shares of company stock valued at $4,041,695 in the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.