Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Cut to $31.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $33.00 to $31.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.68.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HAL opened at $21.19 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.86 and its 200 day moving average is $26.87. The stock has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $18.72 and a 52-week high of $38.91.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. Sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HAL. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.