Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $49.00 to $50.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on HAL. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $48.59.

Halliburton Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of Halliburton stock opened at $36.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $27.84 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $38.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.27. The stock has a market cap of $32.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.00.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The oilfield services company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halliburton news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 5,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $176,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,762.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Allen Miller sold 377,000 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $13,308,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 759,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,793,229.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Halliburton by 271.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 768,057 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $27,781,000 after acquiring an additional 561,020 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 206,692 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after acquiring an additional 84,771 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Halliburton by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 490,230 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after acquiring an additional 31,534 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Halliburton by 65.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,920 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 22,906 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Halliburton by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,037,646 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $82,525,000 after acquiring an additional 235,906 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is 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.