Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Halliburton has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 18 buy ratings, five holds, and one sell across 24 analysts. The average 12-month price target is about $42.45.
• The company recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $0.55 EPS versus the $0.50 consensus, and revenue of $5.40 billion versus $5.37 billion expected. Shares were trading near $41.71, close to the stock’s 12-month high.
• Halliburton also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, or $0.68 annually, for a yield of about 1.6%. Meanwhile, some insiders sold shares recently, while institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of the stock.

Shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.4545.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HAL. Evercore raised Halliburton from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on 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 increased their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Halliburton from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $41.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $19.38 and a 12-month high of $42.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.Halliburton's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total value of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,250 shares in the company, valued at $636,230. This trade represents a 28.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 72,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 222,488 shares of company stock worth $8,789,305 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Halliburton by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after purchasing an additional 19,190,520 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $878,806,000 after purchasing an additional 443,064 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 26,004,682 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $639,715,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238,983 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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