Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Shares Down 0.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)’s stock price traded down 0.5% on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $63.00 to $57.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Schlumberger traded as low as $41.28 and last traded at $41.31. 2,322,345 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 10,763,464 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.50.

SLB has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Schlumberger from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $71.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Schlumberger from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.29.

Insider Transactions at Schlumberger

In other Schlumberger news, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 10,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total transaction of $492,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,428.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 50,048 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.94, for a total value of $2,499,397.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 203,076 shares in the company, valued at $10,141,615.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Vijay Kasibhatla sold 10,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total transaction of $492,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,428.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 180,716 shares of company stock valued at $9,048,624 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,538 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 2,068 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 6,190 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in Schlumberger by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 8,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 2,570 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Schlumberger by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 638,472 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $33,226,000 after purchasing an additional 18,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sachetta LLC bought a new position in shares of Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.52.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 21.92%. The company had revenue of $9.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Schlumberger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.54%.

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.