Empowered Funds LLC Decreases Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 199,264 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 21,136 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $7,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Halliburton by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Halliburton by 39.0% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Halliburton by 25.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,408 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 309.1% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 52,092 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth about $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Griffin Securities raised shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.10.

Halliburton News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Beetaloo Energy to support a proposed gas-to-power project linked to an artificial-intelligence data center in Australia’s Northern Territory. The opportunity could create future work in drilling, production and energy infrastructure, although it is not yet a firm contract. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerages maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” recommendation for HAL, offering some support after the stock’s recent weakness. Halliburton consensus recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Halliburton stock rose in the latest session but continued to underperform the broader market, indicating that investors remain cautious despite the recent bounce. MarketWatch stock performance article
• Negative Sentiment: UBS said Halliburton’s soft third-quarter guidance is weighing on the stock. The cautious outlook raises concerns about weaker oilfield-services demand, pricing or international activity in the near term. UBS Halliburton outlook article

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $32.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $20.39 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 243,475 shares of company stock worth $9,931,490 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Profile

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.