Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $48.82.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $38.72 on Monday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.06. The company has a market capitalization of $34.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.75 and a 200-day moving average of $37.40.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 8.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 23,253 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 185.6% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 12,706 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 8,257 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 26.6% during the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,941 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 2,721 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 14.7% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,272 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,510,000 after buying an additional 4,764 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.