Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.1818.

HAL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upgraded Halliburton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $55.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Evercore increased their price objective on Halliburton from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Zephirin Group raised their price objective on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of HAL traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $34.37. 6,603,881 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,425,458. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.03. The company has a market capitalization of $28.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $20.17 and a 12 month high of $43.59.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This trade represents a 57.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,230. This represents a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,239,349,000 after acquiring an additional 40,969,139 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Halliburton by 82,596.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $169,304,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $147,315,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Halliburton by 12,413.2% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $162,325,000 after buying an additional 4,129,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.