Mackenzie Financial Corp Trims Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lessened its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 100,774 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 19,298 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $299,986,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $353,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $437,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171,722 shares in the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 314.1% during the 4th quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 2,044,661 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $55,594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,484,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.53.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This trade represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the 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 directly owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.1%

HAL stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,935,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,921,811. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.22, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $37.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 28.45%.

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.