Dbs Bank Initiates Coverage on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Stock analysts at Dbs Bank began coverage on shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock. Dbs Bank’s price target points to a potential upside of 54.80% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on HAL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Halliburton from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Halliburton from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.17.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.07. 1,861,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,577,219. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.52 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The company had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter worth $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 274.9% in the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 286.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

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.