Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 24,208 put options on the company. This is an increase of 45% compared to the average volume of 16,693 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.82.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $38.72 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $27.84 and a 52 week high of $43.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.40.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released 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 net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other 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.