Benchmark Has Lowered Expectations for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price reduced by analysts at Benchmark from $40.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 22.73% from the stock’s current price.

HAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.58.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE:HAL traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,077,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,089,921. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.51 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.04.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Country Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.