Empirical Asset Management LLC Invests $288,000 in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 4.4% in the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Halliburton by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,480,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Halliburton by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Halliburton by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $29.96. 14,132,064 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,861,310. The company has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $41.56.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James lowered Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.26.

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.