Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HAL. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL stock opened at $34.44 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $20.78 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The company has a market cap of $28.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.42 and a 200 day moving average of $36.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Halliburton by 7.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 20,583 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 10,408 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 309.1% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 52,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $895,000. 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.