AlphaQuest LLC Sells 22,748 Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 29.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,639 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 22,748 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $1,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 2.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after acquiring an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $160,367,000 after acquiring an additional 995,649 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $25.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.49. The stock has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $23.42 and a 52 week high of $41.56.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

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.