Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Halliburton has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 24 firms, with 18 buy ratings and an average 1-year price target of about $43.32.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.55 EPS versus the $0.50 estimate, while revenue came in slightly above forecasts at $5.40 billion.
• Halliburton also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.1%, while insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.3182.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Capital One Financial raised their price target on Halliburton from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus upped their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised Halliburton from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $37.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $32.98 on Monday. Halliburton has a one year low of $20.17 and a one year high of $43.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.90 and a 200-day moving average of $35.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Halliburton's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Casey Maxwell sold 20,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $852,377.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 93,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,927,732.07. This trade represents a 17.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 258,255 shares of company stock worth $10,550,535 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,239,349,000 after purchasing an additional 40,969,139 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased 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 worth $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $169,304,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $147,315,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Halliburton by 12,413.2% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,163,259 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $162,325,000 after buying an additional 4,129,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Company Profile

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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