Sowell Financial Services LLC Purchases New Shares in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 22,774 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE HAL opened at $24.64 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.39. Halliburton has a one year low of $23.42 and a one year high of $41.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value 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. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,603 shares of company stock worth $4,041,695. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.