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

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 29,467 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 56% compared to the typical volume of 18,840 call options.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $27.87. The stock had a trading volume of 7,216,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,081,913. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.27.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $460,462,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552,927 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Halliburton by 244.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter worth $55,132,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 20.0% during the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Halliburton by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.