Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Short Interest Down 6.2% in October

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,820,000 shares, a decrease of 6.2% from the October 15th total of 23,270,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock traded up $0.76 on Monday, reaching $30.45. The stock had a trading volume of 9,152,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,087,857. The business's 50 day moving average is $29.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.26 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.89.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Halliburton by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $4,806,431,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Halliburton by 46.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 23.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Halliburton by 20.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on HAL shares. Dbs Bank assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.74.

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.