Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Stock Rating Lowered by Griffin Securities

Griffin Securities downgraded shares of Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on SLB. Dbs Bank started coverage on shares of Schlumberger in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $64.50 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Schlumberger from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Five 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.85.

Schlumberger Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $36.83 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. The firm has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.51. Schlumberger has a 52 week low of $36.52 and a 52 week high of $55.69. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.75.

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

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Schlumberger news, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.90, for a total value of $2,514,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,880,160.30. The trade was a 22.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Schlumberger

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SLB. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Schlumberger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,808,476,000 after purchasing an additional 528,279 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Schlumberger by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,195,290,000 after purchasing an additional 239,966 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in 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 worth $598,544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560,684 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Schlumberger by 20.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Schlumberger by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,583,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $404,985,000 after purchasing an additional 100,477 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.