Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Sunday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.38.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $34.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $18.72 and a 12 month high of $37.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.05.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.77% and a net margin of 5.78%.Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $88,842.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,849.31. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $5,985,152.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,101,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,499,455.28. This represents a 13.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 328,148 shares of company stock valued at $11,199,000. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 92,754 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 73,341 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 20,583 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 25.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 52,045 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 10,408 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 309.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 68,946 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 52,092 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter valued at approximately $895,000. Hedge funds and other 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.