Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 26,757 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $353,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $299,986,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,435,299 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $147,786,000 after buying an additional 187,150 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $25.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 8.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.89 and a 200-day moving average of $27.93. Halliburton has a one year low of $23.42 and a one year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.