Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target Raised to $28.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on HAL. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.58.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL stock opened at $20.50 on Thursday. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $37.08. The firm has a market cap of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.92.

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

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is 28.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Militia Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth about $94,000. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 31.5% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 12,447 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 2,985 shares in the last quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.6% in the first quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 71,363 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth approximately $11,416,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $895,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

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.