SLB (NYSE:SLB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

SLB (NYSE:SLB) had its price target increased by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $59.00 to $63.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.16% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on SLB in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on SLB from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup lowered their target price on SLB from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.50.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB opened at $52.43 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.16 and a 200 day moving average of $50.60. SLB has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $58.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.44.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $8.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.67 billion. SLB had a net margin of 8.53% and a return on equity of 14.05%. SLB’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SLB will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at SLB

In other SLB news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. The trade was a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLB

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SLB. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,574,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of SLB in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,528,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in SLB by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,141,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,303,000 after purchasing an additional 128,660 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in SLB by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,367,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $52,468,000 after purchasing an additional 447,667 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in SLB by 65.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 205,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 81,045 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.