Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Up 0.2%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $37.30 and last traded at $37.29. 732,100 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,912,780 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HAL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.59.

Halliburton Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $32.79 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.07.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

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

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 443.8% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently 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.