Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on HAL. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Capital One Financial increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $34.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.88 and its 200 day moving average is $36.54. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $21.40 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 firm’s 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.