Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) PT Lowered to $45.00 at Morgan Stanley

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $47.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

HAL has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.53.

Halliburton Stock Performance

NYSE HAL opened at $32.99 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.06. The company has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.93. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Halliburton had a return on equity of 29.97% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.53%.

Insider Transactions at Halliburton

In related news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $1,437,701.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 130,783 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,508.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 38,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total transaction of $1,437,701.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 130,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,828,508.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,066,119. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,287 shares of company stock worth $2,298,204 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 121,928,734 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,806,431,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,274,105 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $3,952,805,000 after buying an additional 2,618,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Halliburton by 46.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,090,055 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $2,408,171,000 after acquiring an additional 19,237,784 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,538,783 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $850,927,000 after acquiring an additional 782,093 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $400,070,000. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.