Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 24,341 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 52% compared to the average daily volume of 16,048 call options.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Argus cut their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna cut their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.24.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE HAL opened at $31.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $34.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.53. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $21.46 and a 12 month high of $43.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.01. Halliburton had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 35.60%.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a global provider of products and services for the energy industry. The company supports the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas through technologies and services used throughout the life cycle of a well.

Halliburton operates through two primary business segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Its offerings include cementing, stimulation, well completion, production enhancement, drilling services, drilling fluids, well testing, wireline and perforating services, formation evaluation, and project management.