Citigroup Boosts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $50.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price raised by analysts at Citigroup from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 29.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.82.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $38.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,368,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,123,295. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.39. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $34.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its position in Halliburton by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,551,234 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,394,077,000 after acquiring an additional 479,877 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after acquiring an additional 782,093 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $400,070,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Halliburton by 3.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,202,160 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $372,687,000 after acquiring an additional 265,680 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 5.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,871,178 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $359,283,000 after buying an additional 448,548 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.