Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

HAL has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zephirin Group boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.1%

HAL opened at $34.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73. 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 has a one year low of $20.78 and a one year high of $43.59.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

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

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% during 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 in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,812,327,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% during 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. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% during 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. 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.