Halliburton Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 26,687 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 64% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,307 put options.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HAL traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.36. The stock had a trading volume of 3,081,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,838,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $33.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.01. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.84 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.96.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In related news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 434,287 shares of company stock valued at $15,415,304. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,806,431,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,952,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618,740 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,408,171,000 after buying an additional 19,237,784 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $850,927,000 after buying an additional 782,093 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.59.

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.