Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oilfield services company's stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of Halliburton stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $19.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,478,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,954,352. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $20.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05. Halliburton has a one year low of $18.72 and a one year high of $37.08. The stock has a market cap of $17.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 3.41%. Halliburton's payout ratio is 28.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halliburton

In other news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total value of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,913,486.40. The trade was a 11.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction 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 $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 87.4% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.