Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Voya Investment Management LLC

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 266,226 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after selling 110,010 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Halliburton by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $7,584,000 after purchasing an additional 42,876 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $61,375,000 after acquiring an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Benchmark lowered their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna cut their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.60. 11,296,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,086,584. The company has a market cap of $17.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $38.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $23.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.46. 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 (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.45%.

About Halliburton

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.