Empowered Funds LLC Grows Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 317,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after buying an additional 60,081 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $8,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $597,234,000 after purchasing an additional 172,505 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 2.1% during 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 valued at $166,815,000 after acquiring an additional 115,504 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $25.17 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.38. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $25.16 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HAL. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Company 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.