Traders Purchase Large Volume of Schlumberger Call Options (NYSE:SLB)

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 44,442 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 55% compared to the average daily volume of 28,642 call options.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Schlumberger by 50.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,133 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 927,875 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $43,777,000 after acquiring an additional 87,236 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance acquired a new stake in Schlumberger in the 2nd quarter valued at $202,000. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the second quarter worth about $385,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Schlumberger from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set 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 issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Schlumberger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Schlumberger Stock Up 6.1 %

SLB opened at $43.58 on Friday. Schlumberger has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.92. The company has a market cap of $61.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9,241,140 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 35.37%.

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.