Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Cut to $27.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

HAL has been the topic of several other reports. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.05.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HAL opened at $20.62 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.25. The company has a market capitalization of $17.77 billion, a PE ratio of 7.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,486.40. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisory Resource Group boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 32.8% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 162,758 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,728,000 after buying an additional 40,182 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Halliburton during the third quarter valued at about $358,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 195,873 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $5,690,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by 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.