Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

HAL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James cut their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays cut 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $44.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Halliburton from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $48.53.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $38.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.41.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is a positive change from Halliburton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 23.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 271.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new position in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at $344,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $82,525,000 after purchasing an additional 235,906 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased 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 purchasing an additional 44,901 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.