Benchmark Reaffirms Buy Rating for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna reissued a positive rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $48.82.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $38.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.39. The company has a market cap of $34.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 1,134.6% in the third quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 1,000 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.