Bank of America – Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) Upgraded to “Buy” by Bank of America

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has a $31.00 target price on the oil and gas company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $27.00. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 27.00% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on SLB. Cowen lifted their price objective on Schlumberger from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Citigroup Inc. 3% Minimum Coupon Principal Protected Based Upon Russell lifted their price objective on Schlumberger from $25.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 15th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Schlumberger in a research report on Monday, October 12th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. HSBC cut Schlumberger from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $18.10 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 10th. Finally, Smith Barney Citigroup lifted their price objective on Schlumberger from $25.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Schlumberger presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.93.

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $24.41 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.29 and its 200 day moving average is $19.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $33.98 billion, a PE ratio of -3.21, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 2.28. Schlumberger has a 1 year low of $11.87 and a 1 year high of $36.53.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 21st. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.05. Schlumberger had a positive return on equity of 7.34% and a negative net margin of 40.15%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Analysts expect that Schlumberger will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, VP Kevin Fyfe sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.07, for a total value of $65,790.67. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,320.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ashok Belani sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.69, for a total value of $325,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 267,514 shares in the company, valued at $5,802,378.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,981 shares of company stock worth $500,391 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners raised its stake in Schlumberger by 63,066.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 15,851,711 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $246,653,000 after buying an additional 15,826,616 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Schlumberger by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,023,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $93,727,000 after buying an additional 3,588,962 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,560,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Schlumberger by 70.1% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,929,107 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $108,990,000 after buying an additional 2,443,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Schlumberger during the 4th quarter valued at $43,024,000. 73.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger Limited supplies technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry worldwide. It operates in four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company offers reservoir interpretation and data processing services; open and cased-hole, and slickline services; exploration and production pressure and flow-rate measurement services; tubing-conveyed perforating services; integrated production systems; software, consulting, information management, and IT infrastructure services; reservoir characterization, field development planning, and production enhancement consulting services; and petro technical data services and training solutions.

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