16,092 Shares in Halliburton Company $HAL Acquired by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 16,092 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake 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 valued at $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 25.0% in 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 lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 309.1% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 52,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth approximately $895,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $34.77 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $20.78 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HAL. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price target on Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Halliburton

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.