Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 24,208 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 45% compared to the average volume of 16,693 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.67. 4,537,364 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,083,489. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.39. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.78 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 31.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Halliburton by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 4,643 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in Halliburton by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 37,010 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 22,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,605 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.