Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Price Target to $61.00

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) had its price target decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $61.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Schlumberger from $74.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Dbs Bank initiated coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $64.50 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.25.

Schlumberger Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE SLB opened at $38.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.48. Schlumberger has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The stock has a market cap of $54.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.32.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $9.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.27 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.44% and a return on equity of 21.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Schlumberger will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.37%.

Insider Activity at Schlumberger

In related news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total transaction of $2,514,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. This trade represents a 22.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SLB. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after buying an additional 528,279 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 14.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,686,384 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $598,544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560,684 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Schlumberger by 20.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Schlumberger by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,990,797 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $335,214,000 after purchasing an additional 31,718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

About Schlumberger

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.