Halliburton Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:HAL)

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 25,819 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 43% compared to the average volume of 18,018 put options.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,327,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,488,398. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $28.43 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on HAL shares. Johnson Rice raised Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,066,119. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,806,431,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,952,805,000 after buying an additional 2,618,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Halliburton by 46.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,408,171,000 after buying an additional 19,237,784 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after acquiring an additional 782,093 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 17,317.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $460,462,000 after acquiring an additional 13,552,927 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.