Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) – Equities researchers at Capital One Financial cut their Q1 2019 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Schlumberger in a report issued on Wednesday, December 5th, according to Zacks Investment Research. Capital One Financial analyst L. Lemoine now forecasts that the oil and gas company will post earnings per share of $0.33 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.39. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for Schlumberger’s Q2 2019 earnings at $0.45 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $0.58 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $2.05 EPS.
Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Schlumberger had a positive return on equity of 6.55% and a negative net margin of 2.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year.
SLB has been the subject of several other reports. Tudor Pickering downgraded Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 2nd. HSBC upgraded Schlumberger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 2nd. ValuEngine downgraded Schlumberger from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 4th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $82.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Schlumberger from $92.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.05.
Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $35.70 on Friday. Schlumberger has a 12-month low of $35.23 and a 12-month high of $80.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.60%. Schlumberger’s payout ratio is 133.33%.
In other news, CFO Simon Ayat sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total transaction of $3,396,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 234,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,244,852.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick Schorn purchased 10,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $37.55 per share, for a total transaction of $375,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,250. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 108,726,647 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,623,627,000 after acquiring an additional 735,605 shares during the last quarter. IMS Capital Management bought a new position in Schlumberger in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Federated Investors Inc. PA lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 1,183.6% in the third quarter. Federated Investors Inc. PA now owns 608,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $37,049,000 after acquiring an additional 560,785 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 21.9% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 16,106 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. lifted its holdings in Schlumberger by 13.2% in the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 17,940 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,097 shares during the last quarter. 77.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited supplies technology products and services to the oil and gas exploration and production industry worldwide. The company’s Reservoir Characterization Group segment provides reservoir interpretation and data processing services; open and cased-hole services; slickline services; exploration and production pressure and flow-rate measurement services at the surface and downhole; software integrated solutions, such as software, consulting, information management, and IT infrastructure services; consulting services for reservoir characterization, field development planning, and production enhancement; and petrotechnical data services and training solutions, as well as integrated management services.