Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 15.0% to 31,283,491 shares as of March 31 (about 3.8% of the stock), leaving a short-interest ratio of roughly 1.6 days based on average daily volume.
• Company insiders sold a total of 415,508 shares worth $15.29 million over the past three months (including EVP Van H. Beckwith's sale of 54,348 shares), with insiders now owning about 0.57% of the stock.
• Large institutional buying continued, led by Capital Research Global Investors which added ~19.19 million shares in Q4 to hold 110.22 million shares, and institutions now own roughly 85.23% of Halliburton.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 31,283,491 shares, a decline of 15.0% from the March 15th total of 36,815,095 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 19,851,547 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 54,348 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $1,900,006.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 344,535 shares in the company, valued at $12,044,943.60. This represents a 13.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 3,846 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total transaction of $132,187.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 81,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,805,657.47. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 415,508 shares of company stock worth $15,291,882. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $3,114,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190,520 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $878,806,000 after purchasing an additional 443,064 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $841,339,000 after acquiring an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 9.4% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $639,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL stock traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $37.16. 15,323,287 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,642,951. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.04. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $19.22 and a 52 week high of $41.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.04 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 45.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Halliburton from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Capital One Financial boosted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.81.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company's activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.

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