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

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.40.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Melius started coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5%

HAL stock opened at $26.68 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $18.72 and a 12 month high of $32.57. The firm has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 547.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Halliburton by 111.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

About Halliburton

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.