Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price Down 2.8%

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)’s share price fell 2.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $36.32 and last traded at $36.59. 1,557,212 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 6,696,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Halliburton from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.59.

Halliburton Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.48 and a 200 day moving average of $36.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 2.01.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.67 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $123,802.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,845. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 759,015 shares in the company, valued at $26,793,229.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jill D. Sharp sold 3,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $123,802.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 434,287 shares of company stock worth $15,415,304 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Halliburton by 196.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 144,998 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after purchasing an additional 96,005 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter valued at about $1,370,000. Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 13.5% during the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 17,407 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 2,070 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 21.4% during the first quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 113,264 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,465,000 after buying an additional 19,930 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Halliburton by 4,371.8% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 30,766 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 30,078 shares during the period. 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.