Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 20,600 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,051,925 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 20,600 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.13% of Halliburton worth $41,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Halliburton by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,114,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190,520 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,436,336,000 after buying an additional 861,964 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $878,806,000 after buying an additional 443,064 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $841,339,000 after buying an additional 29,735,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,806,168 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $446,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Halliburton

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton reported Q2 revenue of $5.71 billion and EPS of $0.55, both modestly ahead of expectations, reinforcing that core business performance remains solid. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: The company won a new integrated field development contract with Basra Oil Company in Iraq, adding another large international project and expanding its presence in a key oil-producing region. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton also secured additional development work in Kuwait, reinforcing the view that recent contract wins are improving its growth outlook and supporting its international business mix. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces pointed to a stronger long-term outlook thanks to Halliburton’s technology edge and global contract pipeline, but also noted that geopolitical risk and uneven execution could limit near-term upside.
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reportedly lowered expectations for Halliburton, and other firms trimmed price targets, suggesting analysts remain cautious even as the stock benefits from new business wins.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts and mixed sentiment may cap enthusiasm if investors worry that recent contract wins are not enough to quickly reaccelerate margins or earnings growth.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on HAL. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.14.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.8%

Halliburton stock opened at $33.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.45. Halliburton Company has a twelve month low of $20.39 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The company has a market capitalization of $27.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced 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. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.60%.

Halliburton Profile

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.