Two Sigma Securities LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Two Sigma Securities LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 41.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,339 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 17,202 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $437,587,000 after buying an additional 2,171,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.05 on Thursday, reaching $19.87. 8,147,938 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,004,716. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a PE ratio of 7.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $38.35.

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 for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

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.