Benchmark Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Benchmark in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the oilfield services company's stock. Benchmark's price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.22% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James decreased their target price on Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.82.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $38.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,776,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,155,866. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.66 and a 200-day moving average of $37.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.06. The stock has a market cap of $34.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Halliburton's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 443.8% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.