Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays upgraded Halliburton from "equal weight" to "overweight" and set a $55 price target, implying roughly a 36% upside from the prior close.
• Halliburton beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $0.55 vs. $0.50 consensus and revenue of $5.40B vs. $5.37B, reporting a 19.04% ROE and a 6.95% net margin.
• Analyst consensus shows 18 Buys, 5 Holds and 1 Sell with an average price target of $41.91 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy", notably below Barclays' $55 target.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Barclays from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report issued on Thursday. The firm currently has a $55.00 price objective on the oilfield services company's stock. Barclays's price target indicates a potential upside of 36.08% from the company's previous close.

HAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zephirin Group upped their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore raised Halliburton from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eighteen 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.91.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $40.42 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.40. The company has a market cap of $33.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $19.22 and a 12 month high of $42.46.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Halliburton's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total value of $184,014.62. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 187,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,338,645.86. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Tobi M. Young sold 6,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.72, for a total transaction of $255,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $636,230. The trade was a 28.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 222,488 shares of company stock valued at $8,789,305 over the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,794 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Halliburton by 18.2% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,188,469 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $85,328,000 after buying an additional 337,213 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 9.9% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 65,104 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,538,000 after buying an additional 5,869 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 12.1% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,976 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth $443,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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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