Halliburton Company $HAL Shares Bought by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 10.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,137,708 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 195,777 shares during the quarter. Halliburton accounts for 1.2% of Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $83,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its holdings in Halliburton by 196.4% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 981 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 243,475 shares of company stock worth $9,931,490 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Capital One Financial upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $32.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.46. Halliburton Company has a 1-year low of $20.39 and a 1-year high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.35 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

Key Headlines Impacting Halliburton

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Beetaloo Energy to support a proposed gas-to-power project linked to an artificial-intelligence data center in Australia’s Northern Territory. The opportunity could create future work in drilling, production and energy infrastructure, although it is not yet a firm contract. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerages maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” recommendation for HAL, offering some support after the stock’s recent weakness. Halliburton consensus recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Halliburton stock rose in the latest session but continued to underperform the broader market, indicating that investors remain cautious despite the recent bounce. MarketWatch stock performance article
• Negative Sentiment: UBS said Halliburton’s soft third-quarter guidance is weighing on the stock. The cautious outlook raises concerns about weaker oilfield-services demand, pricing or international activity in the near term. UBS Halliburton outlook article

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.