Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Halliburton shares hit a new 52-week high after Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its price target from $40 to $49 and kept a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $42.62, above the prior close of $41.76.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with multiple firms issuing buy ratings and a consensus target price of $42.45. MarketBeat data shows 18 buy ratings, five hold ratings, and one sell rating.
• Halliburton also reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.55 EPS versus the $0.50 estimate and revenue of $5.40 billion versus $5.37 billion expected. The company later declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, implying a 1.6% yield.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $49.00. Rothschild & Co Redburn currently has a buy rating on the stock. Halliburton traded as high as $42.62 and last traded at $42.59, with a volume of 2355813 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.76.

HAL has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Friday, April 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore upgraded shares of Halliburton from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 187,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,338,645.86. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,064,992. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 81.8% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 91,030,451 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,239,349,000 after purchasing an additional 40,969,139 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 82,596.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter worth $418,738,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $169,304,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the third quarter worth $147,315,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Performance

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 company's 50-day moving average price is $38.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.16. The company has a market capitalization of $35.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.73.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.37 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 19.04%. Halliburton's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

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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