Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 1,221 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,422 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $621,000. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 56,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $26.25 on Monday. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $27.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.90. 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 stock has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Company 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.