Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given New $26.00 Price Target at Barclays

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Barclays from $29.00 to $26.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the oilfield services company's stock. Barclays's price objective points to a potential upside of 24.66% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Halliburton in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Halliburton currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.68.

Halliburton Trading Down 1.7 %

Halliburton stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,003,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,934,186. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $18.72 and a 1 year high of $38.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock's fifty day moving average is $23.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $5.28 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $3,689,712.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,321,149.13. This represents a 52.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 10,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $258,226.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 77,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,913,486.40. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HAL. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 24,372,694 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $662,694,000 after purchasing an additional 375,054 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Halliburton by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,538,632 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $584,139,000 after buying an additional 908,271 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $503,856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,763 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Halliburton by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 13,068,025 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $353,242,000 after buying an additional 2,378,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

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.