Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on HAL. UBS Group raised their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Argus lowered their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.24.

Halliburton Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $32.78 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.49. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $21.46 and a 52 week high of $43.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, COO Jeffrey Slocum sold 52,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.09, for a total value of $1,844,751.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 118,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,166,235.70. This 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. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter worth $2,812,327,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Halliburton by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 110,220,971 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $3,114,848,000 after buying an additional 19,190,520 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth about $345,941,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth about $337,486,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Halliburton during the 2nd quarter worth about $196,444,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.