Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 67.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,769,350 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 3,751,033 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Halliburton were worth $48,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HAL. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $353,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,043 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,132,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $32,683,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

HAL stock opened at $25.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $21.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.85, 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.14. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.