Guinness Asset Management LTD Reduces Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Guinness Asset Management LTD lowered its stake in shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 307,773 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 46,410 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $8,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 244.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $55,132,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Halliburton by 22.0% in the third 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, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 127.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,557,130 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $52,600,000 after purchasing an additional 871,789 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of HAL stock opened at $29.96 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.94 and its 200 day moving average is $30.13. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.51 and a 12-month high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.26.

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.