Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Shares Up 0.9% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) shot up 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $41.70 and last traded at $41.70. 2,081,352 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 15,078,841 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SLB shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $61.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.81.

Schlumberger Stock Down 1.4 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $57.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This is an increase from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is currently 36.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,808. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.94, for a total value of $1,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. This trade represents a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 198,258 shares of company stock valued at $8,732,604 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Schlumberger

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Schlumberger by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 20,544 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Schlumberger by 51.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 263,407 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,428,000 after purchasing an additional 89,226 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 89.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 132,062 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after acquiring an additional 62,466 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 119.4% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 23,152 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 12,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 22.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,296 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

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.