Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 3,300 Shares of Halliburton Company $HAL

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 2.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 117,180 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $2,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 109.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,900 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 756.2% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,132 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $24.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $22.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton Company has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $32.57. The company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55. Halliburton had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The firm had revenue of $5.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 31.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Zephirin Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.20.

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.