SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.6667.

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 target price on SLB in a report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on SLB from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of SLB

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of SLB by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter valued at $238,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in SLB in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,628,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its position in SLB by 76.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 24,373 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 10,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 7.6% during the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,326 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB stock opened at $54.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $81.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. SLB has a 12-month low of $31.64 and a 12-month high of $58.82.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SLB will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.53%.

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.