Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 153,012 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 121,408 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $3,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 547.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 111.9% in the second quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 94.8% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,882 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 916 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.10.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total transaction of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at $13,538,550. The trade was a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 8,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total transaction of $246,938.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 333,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,302,095.92. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 268,854 shares of company stock valued at $7,915,138. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 1.1%

HAL opened at $32.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $33.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.74.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

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.