Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Stock Price

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oilfield services company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on HAL. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Halliburton from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Halliburton from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.74.

Halliburton Stock Up 2.6 %

Halliburton stock opened at $31.99 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.07. The stock has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.89. Halliburton has a 1-year low of $27.26 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.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The oilfield services company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. Halliburton’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Halliburton will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new stake in Halliburton in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Halliburton by 138.4% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 22,485 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Halliburton by 346.3% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 37,051 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,461,000 after buying an additional 28,749 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 18.7% in the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,249 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 2.3% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,118 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. 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.