Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.58.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HAL. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Halliburton to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Halliburton Price Performance

HAL traded down $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,369,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,308,311. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $20.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.06. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $18.72 and a 12 month high of $37.08.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 28.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.