Hennessy Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,980 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 4,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $29.96 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $28.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $25.51 and a twelve month high of $41.56.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.