Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded to Overweight at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $55.00 price objective on the oilfield services company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $37.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Griffin Securities raised shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.91.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.6%

NYSE:HAL traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $40.16. The stock had a trading volume of 2,730,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,138,832. The company has a market capitalization of $33.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.52. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $19.38 and a twelve month high of $42.46.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total value of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. The trade was a 17.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $6,338,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,114,848,000 after acquiring an additional 19,190,520 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $878,806,000 after purchasing an additional 443,064 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $639,715,000 after buying an additional 2,238,983 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.