Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.82.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HAL. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $38.54 on Friday. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.88 and its 200 day moving average is $37.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $34.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm’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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.