Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Cuts Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 186,796 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 5,387 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $5,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,480,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $24.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.32 and a 200-day moving average of $28.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $23.42 and a 52 week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on HAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven 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.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Halliburton

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.