Schlumberger’s (SLB) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $57.00 target price on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SLB opened at $41.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. Schlumberger has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The firm has a market cap of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9,241,140 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Schlumberger will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is 35.37%.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total value of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,240 shares in the company, valued at $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total transaction of $1,098,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,204.30. This represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 198,258 shares of company stock worth $8,732,604. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Schlumberger

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 20.6% during the third 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the second quarter worth $42,957,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,322,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Schlumberger Company Profile

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.