Short Interest in Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Rises By 5.3%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,630,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the May 31st total of 23,380,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $369,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 283,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. 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 currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Halliburton by 6.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,891 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 14.7% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,887 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 19.2% in the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 20,500 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 319.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,956 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 28,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 22.3% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 323,841 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $12,517,000 after acquiring an additional 59,069 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.75.

Halliburton Stock Up 0.5 %

HAL traded up $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.78. 3,914,250 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,277,017. The stock has a market cap of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.93. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is 23.53%.

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.