Analysts Set Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) PT at $33.84

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.84.

Several analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.7%

HAL stock opened at $20.38 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $38.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.52 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.54 and a 200-day moving average of $26.13.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.45%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. The trade was a 52.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170 over the last ninety days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 49.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $5,690,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,889,257 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $83,933,000 after purchasing an additional 63,994 shares during the period. Finally, Park National Corp OH grew its holdings in Halliburton by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 302,214 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $8,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,869 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.