SLB (NYSE:SLB) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SLB (NYSE:SLB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SLB. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Loop Capital set a $48.00 price target on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.16.

SLB Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE SLB opened at $44.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. SLB has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $52.45. The company has a market cap of $67.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.54 and its 200 day moving average is $40.53.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SLB will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $2,982,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 140,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,987,919.40. The trade was a 29.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total transaction of $201,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,912.25. This represents a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLB

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLB. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in SLB by 97.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 14,991 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 7,412 shares during the last quarter. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth about $254,000. Mengis Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 90,211 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,596 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at about $241,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Company Profile

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.