Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price reduced by Royal Bank Of Canada from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Halliburton from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Halliburton from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Halliburton from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Halliburton from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Halliburton to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.61.

Halliburton Price Performance

Halliburton stock opened at $22.47 on Wednesday. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $18.72 and a 52 week high of $34.97. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.13.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55. The firm had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 8.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Halliburton will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Halliburton’s payout ratio is currently 31.78%.

Institutional Trading of Halliburton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 450.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,941,771 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $759,623,000 after acquiring an additional 24,506,472 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 1.6% during 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 buying an additional 375,054 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 4.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 15.6% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,171,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $299,986,000. Hedge funds and other 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.