Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Raised to “Buy” at Freedom Broker

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Freedom Broker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $40.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $37.00. Freedom Broker‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 20.69% from the stock’s current price.

HAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Freedom Capital raised Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Tuesday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $33.14. 14,286,805 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,971,064. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $24.92 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.05. The firm has a market cap of $27.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.83.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 8.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at $4,166,235.70. This trade represents a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,794 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Carlson Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Carlson Financial Inc. now owns 11,278 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 17,348 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,414 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,951 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas through technologies and services used throughout the life cycle of a well.

Halliburton operates through two primary business segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Its offerings include cementing, stimulation, well completion, production enhancement, drilling services, drilling fluids, well testing, wireline and perforating services, formation evaluation, and project management.