Investors Purchase Large Volume of Halliburton Call Options (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 29,467 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 56% compared to the average daily volume of 18,840 call options.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $27.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,216,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,081,913. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.27. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $25.51 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.95.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 3,757.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 37,067 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 36,106 shares during the period. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter worth approximately $450,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 68.6% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,662 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 121,853 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,116,000 after purchasing an additional 35,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 22,656 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 4,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.