Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Invests $494,000 in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Freestone Capital Holdings 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 18,160 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HAL. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 152,741 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,258 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Halliburton by 1.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 334,483 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $9,717,000 after buying an additional 4,230 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 12.2% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,239 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 4,583 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter worth about $9,559,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council raised its position in Halliburton by 42.6% in the third quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 15,052 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 4,495 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $25.00 on Friday. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $23.42 and a 12-month high of $41.56. 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 company has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.52.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.