Zephirin Group Boosts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $31.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Zephirin Group from $30.00 to $31.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “sell” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. Zephirin Group’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 21.81% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on HAL. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.73.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.4%

HAL stock opened at $39.65 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $19.22 and a 52-week high of $41.18. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 187,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,338,645.86. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 158,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $6,338,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,013,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,521,080. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 189,960 shares of company stock valued at $7,406,724. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,114,848,000 after acquiring an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Halliburton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,436,336,000 after acquiring an additional 861,964 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $878,806,000 after acquiring an additional 443,064 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $841,339,000 after buying an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $639,715,000 after buying an additional 2,238,983 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Halliburton

Here are the key news stories impacting Halliburton this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — EPS topped consensus and margins improved on international strength, supporting the bullish narrative. Halliburton Q1 beats expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple broker upgrades and price‑target raises (examples: TD Cowen, Citigroup, Argus, HSBC, RBC, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Stifel, Griffin) are lifting investor sentiment and implied upside. Analyst upgrades after Q1
• Positive Sentiment: Management commentary: CEO says U.S. oil is in the “early innings” of a rebound and that a drilling ramp‑up is coming — reinforcing expectations for higher activity and service demand. CEO comments on rebound
• Positive Sentiment: Index/sector positioning: Halliburton is getting more spotlight in Russell 1000 energy reweighting, which can support demand from passive/ETF flows. Russell 1000 spotlight
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer‑term industry backdrop: reports project mid-single‑digit CAGR growth for oilfield services over the next decade — positive for structural demand but not an immediate catalyst. Oilfield services market forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst consensus remains around a “moderate buy” — broad support but not unanimous, so momentum depends on future execution and guidance. Consensus analyst recommendation
• Negative Sentiment: Company warned of higher costs tied to the Iran war, which could pressure margins and offset some upside from stronger activity. Higher costs from Iran war
• Negative Sentiment: Some cautionary notes and downgrades (e.g., Seeking Alpha analysis, a sell rating from Zephirin, Barclays’ equal‑weight) signal rising uncertainty and profit‑taking risk after the recent rally. Downgrade/uncertainty note

About Halliburton

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.