Halliburton Hikes Dividend By 33% After Earnings Beat

Halliburton will return to shareholders half of its annual free cash flow after beating Q4 estimates.

Halliburton will raise its dividend by 33%, the company said on Tuesday, as the world’s largest fracking services provider beat analyst estimates for fourth-quarter performance. Halliburton bought back $250 million in shares during Q4 2022, and saw quarterly earnings of $0.72 per share—this compares to $0.36 per share in Q4 a year ago.

HAL’s Q4 revenues came in at $5.58 billion, also beating analyst estimates and Q4 2021’s revenues of $4.28 billion. HAL’s Q4 profit was $656 million.

For all of 2022, Halliburton’s profit came in at $1.57 billion, or $1.73 per share.

While a boon to shareholders, the buybacks and dividend hikes in the U.S. oil and gas industry over the last year has drawn criticism from the White House, which in October chastised oil companies for returning record profits to shareholders through more buybacks and higher dividends.

“My message to the American energy companies is this: You should not be using your profits to buy back stock or for dividends,” President Joe Biden said in October of last year.

But energy companies have been loathed to increase capital spending as of late, preferring instead to reward shareholders and paying down debt.

“I am pleased to announce that our Board has adopted a capital returns framework and an increase in our dividend to sixteen cents ($0.16) per share beginning this quarter. This capital returns framework, our dividend increase, and the share buy backs we made during the fourth quarter demonstrate Halliburton’s confidence in our business, customers, employees, and value proposition,” Jeff Miller, Halliburton Chairman, President and CEO said in a Tuesday statement.

By Julianne Geiger

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