Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on HAL. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $48.75.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $33.73 on Tuesday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $32.27 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,486,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,287 shares of company stock worth $1,930,704 in the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,179,579 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,642,000 after purchasing an additional 189,324 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,781,000 after buying an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,472,000 after buying an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $17,722,000 after acquiring an additional 31,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.