Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.95.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,584,000 after purchasing an additional 42,876 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth about $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its position in Halliburton by 180.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $21.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market cap of $18.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.23. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $18.72 and a 1-year high of $39.37.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

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.