SLB (NYSE:SLB) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $40.20, but opened at $43.00. SLB shares last traded at $44.4380, with a volume of 15,387,534 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of SLB in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of SLB from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of SLB from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on SLB from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.42.

SLB Trading Down 2.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $63.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.59 and a 200-day moving average of $35.64.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other SLB news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 38,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total value of $1,412,927.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 175,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,607.50. The trade was a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Abdellah Merad sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.69, for a total transaction of $2,261,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 159,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,006,692.99. This trade represents a 27.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 103,947 shares of company stock worth $3,871,337 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,371,335,000 after acquiring an additional 35,057,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the second quarter valued at approximately $618,697,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of SLB by 7.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 83,617,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,898,037,000 after acquiring an additional 5,466,786 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $683,901,000 after acquiring an additional 4,719,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. bought a new position in SLB during the fourth quarter worth $178,883,000. 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.