Halliburton’s (HAL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $45.00 price objective on the oilfield services company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Halliburton from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James dropped their price target 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 price target on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $48.82.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.3 %

Halliburton stock opened at $38.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $34.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.40. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $27.84 and a 12 month high of $43.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,551,234 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,394,077,000 after purchasing an additional 479,877 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after purchasing an additional 782,093 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $400,070,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,202,160 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $372,687,000 after purchasing an additional 265,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 5.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,871,178 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $359,283,000 after purchasing an additional 448,548 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Halliburton

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.