Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.56.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.4 %

Halliburton stock opened at $29.05 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13. Halliburton has a one year low of $27.52 and a one year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Halliburton by 0.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,806,431,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,952,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618,740 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 46.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,408,171,000 after purchasing an additional 19,237,784 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after purchasing an additional 782,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 17,317.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552,927 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.