Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Trading Down 4.1% – Here’s What Happened

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)’s share price was down 4.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $28.17 and last traded at $28.32. Approximately 3,002,758 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 9,578,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Halliburton in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.26.

Halliburton Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.92 and a 200-day moving average of $30.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 440.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,227 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,815 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,863 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 4,746 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 201,100 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $6,793,000 after buying an additional 51,679 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Halliburton by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 204,922 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $6,922,000 after buying an additional 23,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 13.7% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 219,177 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,404,000 after buying an additional 26,409 shares during the period. 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.