Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $44.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $45.00 to $44.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Halliburton from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.53.

Halliburton Trading Up 3.6 %

NYSE HAL opened at $34.18 on Monday. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $32.60 and a 52 week high of $43.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $30.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. The firm had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.95 billion. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,481,883.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Halliburton news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 283,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,481,883.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $1,437,701.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,508.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,287 shares of company stock valued at $2,298,204. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth about $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 85.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.