Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB)

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $68.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on SLB. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.06.

Schlumberger Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Schlumberger stock opened at $47.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $67.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.57. Schlumberger has a 1 year low of $42.61 and a 1 year high of $62.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.75. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 21.88%. The company had revenue of $8.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Schlumberger will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This is a boost from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.54%.

Insider Activity

In other Schlumberger news, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total transaction of $3,044,964.70. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 33,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,612,897.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Gavin Rennick sold 38,083 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.28, for a total transaction of $1,838,647.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,213,686.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Demosthenis Pafitis sold 63,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total value of $3,044,964.70. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 33,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,897.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,158 shares of company stock worth $5,099,893. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Schlumberger

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HM Payson & Co. grew its position in shares of Schlumberger by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 16,234 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Schlumberger by 38.7% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,640,827 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $635,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,069,395 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 88.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 57,764 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,166,000 after purchasing an additional 27,171 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 233.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 216,385 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,860,000 after purchasing an additional 151,412 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is 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.