Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $37.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on HAL. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Griffin Securities lowered Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.5 %

HAL opened at $27.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.51 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Halliburton by 23.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,782,174 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $487,522,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,986 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,132,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Halliburton by 22.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $160,367,000 after acquiring an additional 995,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 127.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,557,130 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $52,600,000 after purchasing an additional 871,789 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.