Banco Santander S.A. Raises Stock Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 509,296 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 58,850 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $13,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 152,741 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $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 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 334,483 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $9,717,000 after purchasing an additional 4,230 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,239 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,583 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,559,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council grew its position in Halliburton by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 15,052 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,495 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL opened at $25.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.52. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $23.42 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The stock has a market cap of $21.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on HAL. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.