Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,406,264 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 121,625 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of Halliburton worth $38,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after buying an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Halliburton by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,435,299 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $147,786,000 after acquiring an additional 187,150 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $25.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.99 and its 200 day moving average is $27.95. The stock has a market cap of $21.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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 note on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

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.