Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Down 4.1% – Here’s What Happened

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)’s share price traded down 4.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $28.17 and last traded at $28.32. 3,002,758 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 9,578,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $39.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James downgraded Halliburton from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.42.

Halliburton Trading Down 0.5 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.03. The firm has a market cap of $24.45 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Halliburton will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Halliburton by 0.3% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $4,480,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Halliburton by 28.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Halliburton by 3.2% in the third quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently 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.