Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Price Target to $43.00

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Schlumberger from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Schlumberger from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.38.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of SLB opened at $33.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $46.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.01. Schlumberger has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $50.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.64.

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

Schlumberger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In other news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 5,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.58, for a total transaction of $167,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,525 shares in the company, valued at $789,969.50. The trade was a 17.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Aparna Raman sold 25,133 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SLB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Schlumberger by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,611 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Schlumberger by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 113,212 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,279,000 after buying an additional 25,911 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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.