Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Receives $37.42 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.42.

HAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark dropped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $4,380,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 126,435 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,438,000 after purchasing an additional 18,549 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 181.8% in the fourth quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 70,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 45,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $437,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171,722 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL stock opened at $26.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.16 and a 12-month high of $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.79.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

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.