Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Rating Reiterated by Benchmark

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $45.00 price objective on the oilfield services company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 16.22% from the company’s current price.

HAL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays cut their target price on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $48.82.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $38.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.41. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.84 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The company has a market capitalization of $34.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.