FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Purchases New Position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,780 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after buying an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $621,000. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,563,000 after buying an additional 56,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 180.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $26.05 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $22.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $25.16 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.79.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid 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 2.61%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

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.