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

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.42.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Griffin Securities downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after purchasing an additional 80,567 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $621,000. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 56.5% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after buying an additional 56,707 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in Halliburton by 180.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $26.25 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.83. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $25.16 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 24.03%.

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.