Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Reaches New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $34.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Halliburton traded as low as $27.18 and last traded at $27.24, with a volume of 1934138 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.87.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter worth $44,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the second quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Halliburton by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 3.8 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

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.