Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $21.92, but opened at $20.12. Halliburton shares last traded at $19.83, with a volume of 4,393,948 shares changing hands.

The oilfield services company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Halliburton had a return on equity of 26.03% and a net margin of 10.90%.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HAL shares. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Halliburton from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Halliburton from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Halliburton from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.95.

Insider Activity

In other Halliburton news, CFO Eric Carre sold 141,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total value of $3,689,712.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,321,149.13. This trade represents a 52.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Margaret Katherine Banks sold 3,900 shares of Halliburton stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.04, for a total transaction of $93,756.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,646.04. The trade was a 26.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,321,170 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HAL. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Halliburton in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Halliburton Stock Down 7.5 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.47 billion, a PE ratio of 7.16, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Halliburton Company Profile

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.