Wells Fargo & Company Trims Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Target Price to $49.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $50.00 to $49.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

HAL has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Halliburton from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna reiterated a positive rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $48.59.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of HAL opened at $36.33 on Monday. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $27.84 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $32.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.27.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $176,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares in the company, valued at $339,762.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $400,070,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Halliburton by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,878,811 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $284,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,485 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Halliburton by 116.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,483,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $97,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338,371 shares during the period. Sourcerock Group LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 237.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,677,194 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $67,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,217,704 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $224,770,000 after purchasing an additional 962,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.