Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 27,968,949 shares, a growth of 40.1% from the June 15th total of 19,969,684 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 10,602,838 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.
Halliburton (HAL) opened at 42.93 on Friday. Halliburton has a one year low of $40.12 and a one year high of $58.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.71. The firm’s market capitalization is $37.31 billion.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The oilfield services company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.86 billion. Halliburton had a positive return on equity of 2.97% and a negative net margin of 0.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post $1.09 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 6th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 1st. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -423.50%.
HAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC Holdings plc reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 target price (down from $65.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. Barclays PLC reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Guggenheim downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Halliburton from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded Halliburton from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.85.
In related news, Director William E. Albrecht acquired 8,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $46.33 per share, for a total transaction of $370,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 2,760.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 51,835,128 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,550,805,000 after buying an additional 50,022,982 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $488,738,000. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 183.6% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 3,803,227 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $205,716,000 after buying an additional 2,462,332 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 4.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,503,306 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,878,947,000 after buying an additional 2,242,976 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Halliburton by 70.1% in the first quarter. Janus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,641,978 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $228,423,000 after buying an additional 1,913,257 shares in the last quarter. 79.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Halliburton
Halliburton Company provides services and products to the upstream oil and natural gas industry throughout the lifecycle of the reservoir, from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production throughout the life of the field.
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