Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,500,000 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the February 13th total of 25,330,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 10,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,792,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,558,783. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $23.42 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.14.

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 issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HAL shares. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.42.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Halliburton

Halliburton Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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