Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by Citigroup from $33.00 to $31.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the oilfield services company's stock. Citigroup's target price indicates a potential upside of 50.12% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.68.

Halliburton Price Performance

NYSE HAL traded down $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.65. 9,445,225 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,951,740. The company has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 7.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $38.89. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.75.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.28 billion. Research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total value of $93,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,551 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,776 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Halliburton by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 84,675 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,036 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.