Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Halliburton from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zephirin Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Argus cut their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.10.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.1%

Halliburton stock opened at $31.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $20.39 and a 12 month high of $43.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 24,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.89, for a total transaction of $889,282.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 148,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,382.80. This trade represents a 14.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 198,349 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.29, for a total transaction of $8,189,830.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 146,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,036,019.94. This trade represents a 57.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,114,848,000 after acquiring an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,825,761 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,436,336,000 after purchasing an additional 861,964 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,097,164 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $878,806,000 after purchasing an additional 443,064 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 82,596.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 29,771,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $841,339,000 after purchasing an additional 29,735,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Halliburton by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,806,168 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $446,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,845 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Company Profile

Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company’s activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.