Schlumberger N.V. (NYSE:SLB) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, July 20th.
According to Zacks, “Schlumberger is the largest oilfield services player in the world with presence in energy markets across the world. The company’s HiWAY* flow-channel fracturing technique has helped increase its customer’s production flow rates threefold than earlier anticipated. Also, high performance drilling motors like DynaForce and rotary steerable systems like PowerDrive Orbit have helped Schlumberger lower well drilling time for its customers considerably. Moreover, we appreciate the company’s greater reliance on international market where operations are expected to be boosted in late 2017 and 2018. However, since 2014, long-term debt at Schlumberger has been on the rise, which is a matter of concern. Also, the company’s cash balance has been on the decline over the last five quarters.”
Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank set a $90.00 target price on Schlumberger N.V. and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 target price on shares of Schlumberger N.V. in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Jefferies Group LLC reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Schlumberger N.V. in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Cowen and Company reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Schlumberger N.V. in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Vetr raised Schlumberger N.V. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $86.40.
Shares of Schlumberger N.V. (SLB) traded up 0.43% during trading on Thursday, hitting $63.71. 6,329,590 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.32 and a 200-day moving average of $73.22. The company has a market cap of $88.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 501.65 and a beta of 1.02. Schlumberger N.V. has a 12-month low of $63.03 and a 12-month high of $87.84.
Schlumberger N.V. (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 21st. The oil and gas company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.25 billion. Schlumberger N.V. had a return on equity of 3.80% and a net margin of 0.62%. Schlumberger N.V.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Schlumberger N.V. will post $1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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In other news, Director Michael E. Marks acquired 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.20 per share, with a total value of $513,600.00. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helge Lund acquired 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.78 per share, for a total transaction of $186,984.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 14,425 shares of company stock worth $950,782 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dodge & Cox bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger N.V. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,954,205,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Schlumberger N.V. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,178,888,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger N.V. by 103.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 16,025,764 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,055,136,000 after buying an additional 8,167,945 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger N.V. by 33.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,117,713 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $731,990,000 after buying an additional 2,791,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Schlumberger N.V. by 2.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,022,940 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,519,670,000 after buying an additional 2,790,227 shares in the last quarter. 79.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Schlumberger N.V.
Schlumberger N.V. provides technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production and processing to the oil and gas industry. The Company’s segments include Reservoir Characterization Group, Drilling Group, Production Group and Cameron Group. The Reservoir Characterization Group consists of the principal technologies involved in finding and defining hydrocarbon resources.
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