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

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 134,099 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock after selling 18,913 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Halliburton were worth $3,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Halliburton by 81.8% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,239,349,000 after acquiring an additional 40,969,139 shares during the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter worth about $418,738,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $147,315,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 85.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $175,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $97,178,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $39.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 12-month low of $19.38 and a 12-month high of $42.46.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on HAL shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Zephirin Group increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.91.

Halliburton News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Halliburton to overweight and raised its price target to $55, signaling stronger confidence in the company’s upside. Barclays upgrade coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Broader analyst sentiment has improved, with multiple firms raising price targets and Halliburton’s latest earnings topping expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sold 20,348 shares, but the transaction was made under a pre-arranged trading plan, making it less likely to reflect a negative change in the company’s outlook. Insider sale details
• Neutral Sentiment: New articles highlighting Halliburton’s trend status and valuation story reflect renewed market attention rather than a specific company event. Wall Street bullish or bearish article

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This represents a 17.83% 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 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305 over the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.