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

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and eighteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.3182.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HAL shares. Zephirin Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:HAL opened at $32.98 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.86. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $20.17 and a 52-week high of $43.59. The company has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total value of $889,282.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total value of $8,189,830.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,036,019.94. The trade was a 57.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 in the last ninety days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Halliburton by 81.8% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,239,349,000 after acquiring an additional 40,969,139 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $169,304,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $147,315,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 12,413.2% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $162,325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.