Analysts Set Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) PT at $48.63

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.53.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Halliburton by 271.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $344,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Halliburton by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $82,525,000 after purchasing an additional 235,906 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,342,520 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $135,372,000 after acquiring an additional 44,901 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,869,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $40.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The stock has a market cap of $36.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.69 and its 200 day moving average is $37.45.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

About Halliburton

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.