Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Receives $37.37 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.95.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Benchmark reduced their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Griffin Securities lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $22.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $39.37. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This trade represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its stake in Halliburton by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 278,934 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $7,584,000 after buying an additional 42,876 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,257,250 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $61,375,000 after buying an additional 80,567 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth about $621,000. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its position in Halliburton by 180.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 43,675 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 28,125 shares during the period. 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.