Piper Sandler Initiates Coverage on Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)

Equities research analysts at Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 38.62% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna cut their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.58.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $25.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.51 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.02.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,889,257 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $83,933,000 after purchasing an additional 63,994 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $5,690,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at about $358,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.