Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Up 6.6% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) traded up 6.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $23.98 and last traded at $24.11. 3,569,509 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 13,343,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Melius Research assumed coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $41.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Halliburton from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Halliburton from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.37.

Halliburton Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.82. The company has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.55. The business had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 31.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 450.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,941,771 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $759,623,000 after acquiring an additional 24,506,472 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $109,379,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 85.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,610,870 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $175,490,000 after buying an additional 3,969,759 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Halliburton by 762.7% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,265,132 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $66,543,000 after acquiring an additional 2,886,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at about $72,637,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.