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

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

HAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered 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 lowered 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. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.58.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.50. The company had a trading volume of 9,104,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,968,324. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.87. Halliburton has a fifty-two week low of $18.72 and a fifty-two week high of $37.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. 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 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 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Eric Carre sold 51,179 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,279,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,177,525. This represents a 28.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Halliburton by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.