JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $35.00 to $33.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HAL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Dbs Bank assumed coverage on shares of Halliburton in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.95.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAL opened at $27.68 on Thursday. Halliburton has a 1 year low of $25.51 and a 1 year high of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.02 and its 200 day moving average is $30.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.90.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Halliburton had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 28.33%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Halliburton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Halliburton by 4.4% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,610 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Halliburton by 0.3% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 154,210 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $4,480,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Halliburton by 28.8% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,759 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Northwest Bank & Trust Co raised its position in Halliburton by 3.2% in the third quarter. Northwest Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,979 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Halliburton by 34.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. 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.