Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Receives “In-Line” Rating from Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI restated their in-line rating on shares of Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $44.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $62.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Schlumberger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.03.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $43.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.85 and a 200-day moving average of $42.92. The company has a market cap of $61.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.52. Schlumberger has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $55.69.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.84% and a net margin of 12.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Schlumberger will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares in the company, valued at $8,880,160.30. This represents a 22.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Schlumberger

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Schlumberger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after purchasing an additional 528,279 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,195,290,000 after purchasing an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 14.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,686,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $598,544,000 after buying an additional 1,560,684 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $470,425,000 after buying an additional 1,916,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Schlumberger by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,990,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $335,214,000 after buying an additional 31,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

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.