Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.17.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 46.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 17,317.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after buying an additional 13,552,927 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 24,954.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,730,900 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $92,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Halliburton by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $340,752,000 after buying an additional 1,681,620 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $29.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.52 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.52 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.38 and its 200-day moving average is $34.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.53%.

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.