Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on HAL. Zephirin Group increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.14.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.8%

HAL stock opened at $33.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.45. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $20.39 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 in the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Halliburton by 128.8% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,284,612 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $89,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,095 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,195,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at about $827,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 172.6% in the fourth quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 110,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,109,000 after buying an additional 69,644 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 373,949 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $10,568,000 after buying an additional 67,369 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Halliburton

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton reported Q2 revenue of $5.71 billion and EPS of $0.55, both modestly ahead of expectations, reinforcing that core business performance remains solid. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: The company won a new integrated field development contract with Basra Oil Company in Iraq, adding another large international project and expanding its presence in a key oil-producing region. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Halliburton also secured additional development work in Kuwait, reinforcing the view that recent contract wins are improving its growth outlook and supporting its international business mix. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces pointed to a stronger long-term outlook thanks to Halliburton’s technology edge and global contract pipeline, but also noted that geopolitical risk and uneven execution could limit near-term upside.
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reportedly lowered expectations for Halliburton, and other firms trimmed price targets, suggesting analysts remain cautious even as the stock benefits from new business wins.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts and mixed sentiment may cap enthusiasm if investors worry that recent contract wins are not enough to quickly reaccelerate margins or earnings growth.

Halliburton Company 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.