Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given New $37.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the oilfield services company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HAL. Raymond James cut shares of Halliburton from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAL traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.83. 13,045,459 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,295,606. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $28.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a 12 month low of $25.51 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 10.90% and a return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,630,361 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $597,234,000 after acquiring an additional 172,505 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Halliburton by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,530,937 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $503,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,763 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,742,352 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $166,815,000 after buying an additional 115,504 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Halliburton by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,520,383 shares of the oilfield services company's stock valued at $160,367,000 after purchasing an additional 995,649 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Halliburton by 244.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,513,560 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $138,025,000 after buying an additional 3,203,224 shares during 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.