Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

Several other research firms also recently commented on HAL. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Halliburton from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Susquehanna reissued a positive rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $48.53.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of HAL opened at $38.44 on Friday. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The company has a market cap of $34.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.40.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This is a boost from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WD Rutherford LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 69,350 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after purchasing an additional 5,365 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 484.1% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 97,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 80,600 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth $211,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 69,658 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,746,000 after acquiring an additional 9,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 43,177 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.