UPDATE: Jefferies Raises PT on Halliburton Company on Stronger Margin Recovery

In a report published Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Brad Handler reiterated a Buy rating on Halliburton Company

, and raised the price target from $47.00 to $49.00. In the report, Handler noted, “Stronger-than-expected margin recovery shows the strength of HAL's NAM position, in our view, and we are optimistic about completions activity and efficiencies and we raise our 2013/14 estimates. We think efficiency, Macondo settlement and deepwater/production-oriented growth and accelerating dividends and share buybacks are company-specific catalysts for shares and we maintain it as our top large-cap pick.” Halliburton Company closed on Monday at $39.29.