SLB (NYSE:SLB) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

SLB (NYSE:SLB) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on SLB. Susquehanna upped their price target on SLB from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Argus raised shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.16.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $44.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. SLB has a 52-week low of $31.11 and a 52-week high of $52.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $48.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.40. The firm has a market cap of $67.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.68.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that SLB will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total transaction of $201,160.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,912.25. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This trade represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of SLB

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in SLB in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SLB during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

About SLB

SLB (NYSE: SLB), historically known as Schlumberger, is a leading global provider of technology, integrated project management and information solutions for the energy industry. Founded by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926, the company develops and supplies products and services used across the exploration, drilling, completion and production phases of oil and gas development. Its offerings are intended to help operators characterize reservoirs, drill and complete wells, optimize production and manage field operations throughout the asset lifecycle.

SLB’s product and service portfolio spans reservoir characterization and well testing, wireline and logging services, directional drilling and drilling tools, well construction and completion technologies, production systems, and subsea equipment.