Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $41.00

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Griffin Securities cut shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.95.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $27.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $25.51 and a 12-month high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.02 and its 200-day moving average is $30.53.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 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 firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.69%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Country Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.