Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $32.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $37.00 to $32.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the oilfield services company's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' target price would suggest a potential upside of 53.43% from the company's current price.

HAL has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Halliburton from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.68.

Halliburton Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of HAL traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.86. 11,003,499 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,953,775. The company has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.78. Halliburton has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $38.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,279,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares in the company, valued at $253,646.04. This represents a 26.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 206,782 shares of company stock worth $5,321,170. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $299,986,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Halliburton by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Halliburton by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 16,093,680 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $437,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171,722 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Halliburton by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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.