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

Shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.1667.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SLB shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SLB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $45.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $67.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.63. SLB has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $58.82.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SLB will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLB

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fearnley Asset Management AS acquired a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,574,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,141,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,303,000 after purchasing an additional 128,660 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SLB during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,528,000. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of SLB by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,367,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $52,468,000 after purchasing an additional 447,667 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of SLB by 65.0% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 205,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 81,045 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently 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.