Halliburton Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:HAL)

Key Points

• Halliburton experienced a significant surge in options trading, with investors buying 104,020 call options, marking a 355% increase from the typical daily volume.
• Institutional investors hold 85.23% of Halliburton's stock, with notable recent purchases from firms like Mascagni Wealth Management and Hexagon Capital Partners.
• Analysts exhibit mixed sentiments, with a Moderate Buy average rating and a target price ranging from $21.00 to $41.00 among various banks and research firms.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 104,020 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 355% compared to the typical daily volume of 22,849 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton during the first quarter worth $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the second quarter worth $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 87.4% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Halliburton from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler cut shares of Halliburton from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.37.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $1.74 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.35. The stock had a trading volume of 17,324,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,417,639. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.82. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $32.57. The firm has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55. Halliburton had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The business had revenue of $5.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Halliburton's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is 31.78%.

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.

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