Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,789,348 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 80,050 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $103,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of HAL opened at $20.65 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.68. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $38.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.30, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. On average, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on HAL shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.