Evercore Upgrades Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) to “Outperform”

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded by analysts at Evercore from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $42.00 target price on the oilfield services company’s stock. Evercore’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.35% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zephirin Group lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Halliburton from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $36.41 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.36 and its 200 day moving average is $28.92. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $37.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $30.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 3,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total value of $132,187.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 81,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,805,657.47. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lawrence J. Pope sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.25, for a total value of $3,225,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 419,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,538,550. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 357,053 shares of company stock worth $12,178,682 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Halliburton by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,363,599 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,147,310,000 after buying an additional 1,617,696 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Halliburton by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,436,336,000 after buying an additional 861,964 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $878,806,000 after buying an additional 443,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $841,339,000 after acquiring an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.