Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.7619.

HAL has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $33.83 on Friday. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $18.72 and a twelve month high of $35.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.03. The company has a market capitalization of $28.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.77.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 45.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $5,985,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,101,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,499,455.28. This trade represents a 13.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 419,800 shares in the company, valued at $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 497,002 shares of company stock valued at $15,889,138 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 5,370 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.6% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,320 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Halliburton by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 16,789 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Halliburton by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,369 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.