Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Cut to “Sector Perform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $37.00 target price on the oilfield services company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $44.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 32.07% from the stock’s previous close.

HAL has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.47.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE HAL opened at $28.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.10. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $27.52 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,179,579 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $42,642,000 after purchasing an additional 189,324 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 319.0% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,956 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 28,137 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth $1,908,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,350 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 622.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 66,741 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,413,000 after buying an additional 57,499 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently 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.