Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Upgraded by Hsbc Global Res to Hold Rating

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Hsbc Global Res to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on HAL. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.68.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $21.19 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $23.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.87. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $38.91. The company has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a PE ratio of 7.49, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $138,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $353,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $437,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Halliburton

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.

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