Energy Income Partners LLC Buys New Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Energy Income Partners LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 573,929 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,485,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HAL. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth $39,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HAL. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Argus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $34.77 on Wednesday. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $20.78 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.48.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

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

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.