Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.0952.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Halliburton by 21.1% during 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 in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 2nd quarter worth $2,812,327,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2,886.3% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 82,808,973 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,811,365,000 after buying an additional 80,036,032 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,436,336,000 after buying an additional 861,964 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $878,806,000 after buying an additional 443,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $36.82 on Tuesday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $21.40 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $33.85 and a 200-day moving average of $36.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.73. 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 posted its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 35.60%.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.