Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HAL. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zephirin Group cut Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Halliburton from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.38.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $35.34 on Friday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $37.03. The company has a market cap of $29.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.56 and its 200 day moving average is $28.24.

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

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton 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 transaction, the director owned 14,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,849.31. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 171,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $5,985,152.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,101,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,499,455.28. The trade was a 13.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 331,994 shares of company stock worth $11,331,187 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 1.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,929,285 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $145,860,000 after acquiring an additional 96,394 shares during the period. Tejara Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 98.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd now owns 134,365 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after purchasing an additional 66,765 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,775,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,645,526 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $40,480,000 after purchasing an additional 186,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,010,000. 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.