Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Price Target to $59.00

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) had its target price decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on SLB. Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Schlumberger from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.69.

Schlumberger Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE SLB opened at $41.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $56.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Schlumberger has a 12-month low of $36.52 and a 12-month high of $55.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.46.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.24 billion. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Schlumberger will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 36.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 49,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,179,204.30. The trade was a 33.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.41, for a total value of $223,224.84. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,245,799.89. This trade represents a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Schlumberger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $735,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938,082 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Schlumberger by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,986,195 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,913,312,000 after purchasing an additional 5,225,828 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 3,112.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,627,051 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $139,059,000 after buying an additional 3,514,134 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Schlumberger by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,737,703 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,101,804,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119,543 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.