Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be given a dividend of 0.275 per share by the oil and gas company on Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Schlumberger has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Schlumberger has a dividend payout ratio of 24.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Schlumberger to earn $4.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.5%.

Schlumberger Price Performance

SLB stock opened at $50.94 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.48. The stock has a market cap of $72.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.60. Schlumberger has a 1 year low of $42.73 and a 1 year high of $62.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The business had revenue of $8.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on SLB. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 38,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total value of $1,944,699.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 386,841 shares in the company, valued at $19,504,523.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mogharbel Khaled Al sold 38,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total value of $1,944,699.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 386,841 shares in the company, valued at $19,504,523.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Kevin Fyfe sold 20,223 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.05, for a total transaction of $1,052,607.15. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 31,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,623,855.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,191 shares of company stock worth $8,636,322 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Schlumberger

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the fourth quarter worth about $1,008,286,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 200.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,736,684 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $527,173,000 after buying an additional 7,158,943 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,742,455 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $611,077,000 after buying an additional 2,412,610 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 179.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,736,004 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $113,024,000 after buying an additional 1,756,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,281,480 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,883,928,000 after buying an additional 1,753,108 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.