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

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.74.

A number of research firms have weighed in on HAL. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $28.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.56. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $27.26 and a 52 week high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 23.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter worth $44,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 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.