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

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.2727.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,521,080. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 391,932 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,453. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farmers National Bank bought a new position in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at $225,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 17,746 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,477 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 121,970 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,756,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Carlson Capital L.P. bought a new position in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at $1,724,000. Finally, Summitry LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at $299,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $36.23 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $20.09 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.79 and a 200-day moving average of $35.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

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.