Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Benchmark restated a buy rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $49.06.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $34.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.37. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $31.08 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.53%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,883.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $1,437,701.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,287 shares of company stock worth $1,930,704 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,179,579 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,642,000 after purchasing an additional 189,324 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Halliburton by 271.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 22,906 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.