Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Increased to $51.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $46.00 to $51.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HAL. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.59. 903,336 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,036,228. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.39. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $34.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 443.8% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.