New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Takes $2.17 Million Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 79,780 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,169,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 101.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 33.3% in 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 period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $25.08 on Friday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $23.42 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.99 and a 200 day moving average of $27.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton 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.