Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $45.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 16.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.59.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $38.66. The company had a trading volume of 3,419,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,098,513. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.66 and a 200 day moving average of $37.39. The firm has a market cap of $34.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.84 and a 1-year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV increased its stake in Halliburton by 1,134.6% in the third quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 1,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.