Evercore ISI Cuts Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Price Target to $35.00

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Evercore ISI from $43.00 to $35.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the oilfield services company's stock.

HAL has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Griffin Securities lowered shares of Halliburton from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.26.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of HAL stock traded up $0.75 on Wednesday, hitting $28.95. The stock had a trading volume of 9,667,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,351,784. The stock's 50 day moving average is $28.96 and its 200-day moving average is $30.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a 52-week low of $25.51 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is 23.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Halliburton

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Country Trust Bank bought a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 101.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Halliburton during the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 34.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.