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

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $37.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.24.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $33.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.67. 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 has a 12-month low of $21.46 and a 12-month high of $43.59. The firm has a market cap of $28.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.76.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total transaction of $1,844,751.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at $4,166,235.70. This trade represents a 30.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Kilter Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth about $39,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports oil and natural gas exploration, development and production across the life cycle of a well, serving both independent and national oil companies.

Halliburton operates through two principal business segments: Completion and Production, which provides cementing, stimulation, intervention and completion services; and Drilling and Evaluation, which offers drilling services, formation evaluation, well construction, project management and related technologies.