Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Lowered to $38.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price decreased by BMO Capital Markets from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on HAL. StockNews.com cut Halliburton from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Johnson Rice raised shares of Halliburton to a moderate buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Dbs Bank initiated coverage on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a buy rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $41.89.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $30.95. The stock had a trading volume of 643,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,871,259. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.88. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $27.52 and a fifty-two week high of $43.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.13.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 22.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total value of $367,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,066,119. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Halliburton by 2.1% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,027 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 18,325 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc increased its position in Halliburton by 3.1% during the second quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 10,847 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in Halliburton by 2.9% in the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 11,842 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.