Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on SLB (NYSE:SLB)

Key Points

• Unusual call buying: Traders purchased 55,917 call options on SLB Thursday, about a 42% increase over the average daily call volume of 39,267, indicating heightened bullish positioning.
• Analyst sentiment: SLB holds a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $58.32 and several recent upgrades from firms including Jefferies, TD Cowen and Argus.
• Market and fundamentals: Shares rose about 1.5% to $56.54 after SLB beat quarterly EPS by $0.01 and announced a $0.295 quarterly dividend (annualized yield ~2.1%).

SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 55,917 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 42% compared to the average volume of 39,267 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SLB shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of SLB in a report on Sunday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on SLB from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded SLB to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SLB currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SLB

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abel Hall LLC grew 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 buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SLB by 4.1% in the fourth 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 period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of SLB by 9.3% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,503 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of SLB by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,288 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Capital Management grew its stake in shares of SLB by 1.0% in the first quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 21,968 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SLB Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of SLB traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $56.54. 4,456,555 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,569,996. 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 cap of $84.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.69. The firm's 50 day moving average is $50.56 and its 200-day moving average is $44.20. SLB has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $56.90.

SLB (NYSE:SLB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8.72 billion for 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%.The firm's revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SLB will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB's payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

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.

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