Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zephirin Group upped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.10.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $32.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.49. The stock has a market cap of $26.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.71. Halliburton has a one year low of $20.39 and a one year high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.16%.The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 93,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock valued at $10,550,535 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $841,339,000 after acquiring an additional 29,735,387 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Halliburton by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,114,848,000 after acquiring an additional 19,190,520 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at $169,304,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 12,413.2% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $162,325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter valued at about $158,525,000. 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.