Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Sets New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $34.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Halliburton traded as low as $27.18 and last traded at $27.24, with a volume of 1934138 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.87.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced 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. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Halliburton from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.32.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Halliburton by 17,317.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,631,188 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $460,462,000 after buying an additional 13,552,927 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Halliburton by 244.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,203,224 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 24,954.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,730,900 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $92,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,000 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $55,132,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Halliburton by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,087,115 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $340,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 2.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $23.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.21. The company's 50-day moving average is $29.63 and its 200 day moving average is $31.16.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Halliburton's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Halliburton's payout ratio is currently 23.69%.

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.