Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sets New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $34.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Halliburton traded as low as $27.18 and last traded at $27.24, with a volume of 1934138 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.87.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on HAL. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Halliburton from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Halliburton by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,480,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Halliburton Stock Down 2.4 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.63 and a 200-day moving average of $31.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

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.