Halliburton Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 24,208 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 45% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,693 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAL. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $38.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.66 and its 200-day moving average is $37.39. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 31.59% and a net margin of 11.46%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,643 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its stake in Halliburton by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 37,010 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 22,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $922,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through 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; and 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.