Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Cut to $41.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.95.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of HAL opened at $27.68 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.90. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.59.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in Halliburton in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.