Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $32.36 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.48. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $20.39 and a twelve month high of $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a PE ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. The trade was a 57.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in 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 worth $841,339,000 after acquiring an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Halliburton by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190,520 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $169,304,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Halliburton by 12,413.2% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $162,325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter worth $158,525,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.