Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,630,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the May 31st total of 23,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Halliburton by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,806,431,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,952,805,000 after acquiring an additional 2,618,740 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 46.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $850,927,000 after acquiring an additional 782,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $33.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $29.91 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.30. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $32.35 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on HAL. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.75.

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.