StockNews.com Upgrades Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) to Buy

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

HAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.06.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,827,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,194,350. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $36.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.37. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $31.08 and a 52 week high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a market cap of $30.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Halliburton news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 130,783 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,704. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,179,579 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $42,642,000 after purchasing an additional 189,324 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 271.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $27,781,000 after purchasing an additional 561,020 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $17,722,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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.