Guinness Asset Management LTD Sells 24,255 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Guinness Asset Management LTD lessened its holdings in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 222,036 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 24,255 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $4,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 450.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,941,771 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $759,623,000 after purchasing an additional 24,506,472 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 217.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,641,111 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $116,770,000 after buying an additional 3,178,746 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth about $72,637,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 134.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,734,069 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $76,100,000 after acquiring an additional 2,142,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 292.5% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,807,084 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $57,208,000 after acquiring an additional 2,091,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $26.57 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $22.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.02. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $32.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Zephirin Group boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

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.