SLB (NYSE:SLB) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $45.50 and last traded at $44.6260, with a volume of 1772845 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SLB shares. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of SLB from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of SLB from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on SLB from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on SLB in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.42.

SLB Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $66.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.87.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. SLB had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 10.34%.The company had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.02%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of SLB

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in SLB by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,732,000 after acquiring an additional 40,415 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of SLB by 1,937.4% in the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,265,000 after purchasing an additional 948,015 shares during the last quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the third quarter worth $1,455,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in SLB by 19.5% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 56,561 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 9,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. grew its position in SLB by 48.1% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 62,737 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after purchasing an additional 20,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

SLB Company Profile

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.