Halliburton (NYSE:HAL – Get Rating) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.53.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HAL. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 8th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $42.00 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Halliburton from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 13th.

Halliburton Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:HAL opened at $24.64 on Friday. Halliburton has a twelve month low of $20.77 and a twelve month high of $43.99. The company has a market cap of $22.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 7th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 6th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Halliburton's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth $288,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 103.4% in the first quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 64,690 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $2,450,000 after acquiring an additional 32,881 shares during the period. National Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the first quarter worth $372,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 24.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 246,340 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $9,329,000 after acquiring an additional 48,573 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Halliburton by 12.8% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,867 shares of the oilfield services company's stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.60% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Company Profile

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Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates in 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; 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; production solutions comprising coiled tubing, hydraulic workover units, downhole tools, and pumping and nitrogen services; and pipeline and process services, such as pre-commissioning, commissioning, maintenance, and decommissioning.

Further Reading

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