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

Shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.5455.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC set a $30.00 price objective on Halliburton and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Halliburton from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Halliburton from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $25.80 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.03. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $32.57.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 20.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, insider Mark Richard sold 160,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $12,562,425.98. This represents a 26.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter worth approximately $2,900,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,963 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 4,645 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth $2,898,000. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 7.3% in the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 58,501 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,001 shares during the period. Finally, Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $220,000. Institutional investors 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.