Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.06.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of HAL stock opened at $34.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.26 and its 200-day moving average is $36.37. The stock has a market cap of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.93. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $31.08 and a 52-week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 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.