Stock Traders Buy High Volume of SLB Call Options (NYSE:SLB)

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 33,012 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,758 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SLB

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SLB during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in shares of SLB by 93.3% during the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 580 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of SLB by 66.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 701 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in SLB during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on SLB shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Sunday, July 26th. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on SLB from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on SLB from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut SLB from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.35.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE SLB traded up $0.12 on Monday, reaching $53.99. 6,678,145 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,422,262. SLB has a 12 month low of $31.64 and a 12 month high of $58.82. The company has a market cap of $80.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $8.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.67 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 8.53%.The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that SLB will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.00%.

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.