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

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL – Get Rating) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.08.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Barclays upped their target price on Halliburton from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 20th. Finally, Stephens cut Halliburton from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 20th.

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 58,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $2,344,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 850,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,016,840. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 4,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.00, for a total value of $200,900.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 43,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,795,062. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 207,412 shares of company stock valued at $8,432,979 over the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth $266,000. Insight Advisors LLC PA acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth $736,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 31.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 75,816 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 18,110 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.8% during the first quarter. Midwest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 71,638 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,713,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 21.2% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 46,850 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 8,204 shares during the last quarter. 79.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HAL opened at $33.55 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a one year low of $17.82 and a one year high of $43.99. The company has a market cap of $30.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.31.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Halliburton had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Halliburton will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 1st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 31st. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

About Halliburton (Get Rating)

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates in 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; 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; production solutions comprising coiled tubing, hydraulic workover units, downhole tools, and pumping and nitrogen services; and pipeline and process services, such as pre-commissioning, commissioning, maintenance, and decommissioning.

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