SLB Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SLB)

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 55,917 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical daily volume of 39,267 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in SLB by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 7,535 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in SLB by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 5,041 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $193,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,503 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 21,968 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,129,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SLB Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of SLB opened at $57.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $85.65 billion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.69. SLB has a fifty-two week low of $31.64 and a fifty-two week high of $57.20.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.SLB’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that SLB will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. SLB’s payout ratio is 51.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SLB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Argus upgraded SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.95.

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.