Morgan Stanley Lowers Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $28.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 31.80% from the company’s current price.

HAL has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.53.

Halliburton Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:HAL opened at $21.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $38.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.91. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. Sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. The trade was a 28.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 65,576 shares of company stock worth $1,631,457. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Halliburton by 87.4% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.