Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given Sector Perform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their sector perform rating on shares of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $34.00 price target on the oilfield services company’s stock.

HAL has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Halliburton from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Halliburton from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Halliburton in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Benchmark dropped their price target on Halliburton from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.42.

Halliburton Price Performance

Shares of HAL stock opened at $28.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.91. Halliburton has a one year low of $25.51 and a one 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.04.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Halliburton had a return on equity of 28.33% and a net margin of 11.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Halliburton will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 4th. Halliburton’s payout ratio is presently 23.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Halliburton

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAL. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Halliburton by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 70,229 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,910,000 after buying an additional 2,464 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Halliburton during the fourth quarter worth approximately $375,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in Halliburton by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 71,797 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 23,340 shares during the period. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in Halliburton in the 4th quarter valued at $439,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Halliburton by 237.2% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 22,639 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 15,925 shares during the period. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.