Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. HSBC set a $30.00 target price on Halliburton and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zephirin Group boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $41.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.55.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE:HAL opened at $26.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $32.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.73 and a 200-day moving average of $22.53.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $4,443,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 452,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,562,425.98. The trade was a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 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.