Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Given New $40.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $47.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the oilfield services company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.24% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Halliburton from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Halliburton to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Halliburton from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Halliburton from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Halliburton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.88.

Halliburton Stock Performance

HAL stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $30.95. 448,421 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,416,397. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Halliburton has a 52 week low of $30.31 and a 52 week high of $43.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.93.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The oilfield services company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Halliburton had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 29.97%. The business had revenue of $5.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Halliburton will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Van H. Beckwith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,066,119. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Halliburton by 2.1% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 14,027 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its position in Halliburton by 1.7% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 18,325 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Halliburton by 28.8% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc increased its position in Halliburton by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 10,847 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Halliburton by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 11,842 shares of the oilfield services company’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is 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.