Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Cuts Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,368 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 3,059 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after buying an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 2.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $166,815,000 after acquiring an additional 115,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,435,299 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $147,786,000 after purchasing an additional 187,150 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4 %

Halliburton stock opened at $25.33 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 stock has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.97. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $23.42 and a 1-year high of $41.56.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

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.