Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.29

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of 0.285 per share by the oil and gas company on Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th.

Schlumberger has raised its dividend by an average of 30.1% annually over the last three years. Schlumberger has a dividend payout ratio of 31.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Schlumberger to earn $3.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.8%.

Schlumberger Stock Down 1.2 %

SLB stock opened at $34.09 on Tuesday. Schlumberger has a fifty-two week low of $31.11 and a fifty-two week high of $50.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $46.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.11.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $8.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.64 billion. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Schlumberger will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Aparna Raman sold 25,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total transaction of $1,062,623.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,311,990.68. This represents a 44.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bejar Carmen Rando sold 5,524 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,245,799.89. The trade was a 15.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 117,647 shares of company stock valued at $4,876,679 in the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Schlumberger

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Schlumberger stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SLB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Schlumberger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.50.

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.