Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Drops By 6.2%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,820,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the October 15th total of 23,270,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 9,250,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $30.21. 1,253,230 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,051,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. The company has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.26 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.17.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,806,431,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Halliburton by 46.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $487,522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HAL. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.74.

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.