Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Trading Down 2.9% - Here's What Happened

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) traded down 2.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $22.39 and last traded at $22.35. 4,576,015 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 11,223,009 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Halliburton presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.58.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.1%

The stock has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.14. The business's 50 day moving average is $20.91 and its 200-day moving average is $24.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Halliburton had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 450.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,941,771 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $759,623,000 after purchasing an additional 24,506,472 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $299,986,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 217.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,641,111 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $116,770,000 after buying an additional 3,178,746 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth about $72,637,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $353,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. 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.