Brokerages Set SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) Price Target at $52.38

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.3842.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $48.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Evercore set a $54.00 price target on SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

SLB Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE SLB opened at $51.34 on Monday. SLB has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $52.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $77.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.68.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.54 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.SLB’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Research analysts forecast that SLB will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of SLB stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. This trade represents a 37.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total transaction of $201,160.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,525 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock worth $7,796,666 in the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of SLB

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of SLB in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SLB during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in SLB during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About SLB

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.