Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.59.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Schlumberger from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Schlumberger from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total transaction of $3,044,964.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 33,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,897.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 4,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.43, for a total transaction of $216,281.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $977,956.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total value of $3,044,964.70. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 33,421 shares in the company, valued at $1,612,897.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 106,158 shares of company stock worth $5,099,893. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SLB. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 72.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,950,956 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,875,402,000 after purchasing an additional 37,333,485 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,000,292,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 14.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 85,986,039 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,712,897,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606,191 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 123,063.5% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 4,347,671 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $226,253,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 35.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,640,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $635,883,000 after acquiring an additional 3,069,395 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $46.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.57. Schlumberger has a one year low of $42.61 and a one year high of $62.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $66.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.55.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.88% and a net margin of 12.72%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Schlumberger will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 36.54%.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.