SLB dividend: cash coverage and yield
MyStockButler's October 2026 analysis: SLB's current quarterly dividend is $0.295 per share, and its forecast shows $1.18 per share in the first base period. Cash coverage is uneven: in September 2026, distributions exceeded SLB's company-defined free cash flow.
How much does SLB pay per share?
Dividends stay at $1.18 per share in the first base period, then rise to $1.22 and $1.26. The bear case holds the payout flat, while the bull case reaches $1.36. The board’s current quarterly declaration is $0.295 per share. Five years of increases support modest growth, but recent distributions exceeding quarterly free cash flow support a flat bear case.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS, diluted | 2.35 | 3.11 | 2.91 | 2.39 | 1.32 |
| Real free cash flow per share | 3.11 | 3.03 | 3.05 | 1.24 | 2.23 |
| − Dividends paid, per share | 1.11 | 1.07 | 0.91 | 0.59 | 0.49 |
What this means. The company's own free cash flow per share is lower because it also counts certain investments and capitalized exploration data that our count leaves out.
How much would SLB's dividend pay you?
$10,000 invested in SLB at its 2.2% dividend yield (our report of October 24, 2026) pays $220.00 in the first year, before tax. If its dividend per share keeps changing 22.7% a year, as it did from 2021 to 2025, and the dividends are reinvested, year 10 pays $2,274.62, with $8,697.55 received in all.
Before tax. Past dividend growth is not a promise. Information only, not investment advice.
Is SLB's dividend covered by its cash?
Cash was weaker than the sales recovery. SLB’s own free cash flow was $828 million, while share repurchases were $656 million. Dividends were $439 million, so the quarter’s distributions exceeded its company-defined free cash flow. One quarter need not fund distributions in isolation, but the mismatch helps explain why net debt increased.
Free cash flow is cash generated after selected investments, including production projects and exploration data. During the first nine months of 2026, SLB generated $1.521 billion and paid $1.305 billion in dividends. The remaining cushion was modest because free cash flow is not simply spare cash: inventory, unpaid invoices, investment and other uses can absorb it.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | 4,795 | 4,671 | 4,698 | 2,102 | 3,510 |
| − Dividends paid | 1,602 | 1,533 | 1,317 | 848 | 699 |
| − Share buybacks | 2,414 | 1,737 | 694 | 0 | 0 |
| = Free cash flow not paid out | 572 |
What this means. The acquisitions line also includes some other investments, so it is not a pure measure of money spent buying businesses.
What could change SLB's dividend?
The forecast would move toward the bear case if weak operator budgets and service pricing persist through 2027–2029. Slower ChampionX integration and higher working-capital use during 2027–2028 would further reduce cash available for buybacks.
| October 2027 | October 2028 | October 2029 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal operating profit | 5,813 (4,930 / 6,353) | 6,128 (4,475 / 7,000) | 6,468 (4,930 / 7,560) |
| Dividends per share | 1.18 (1.18 / 1.20) | 1.22 (1.18 / 1.28) | 1.26 (1.18 / 1.36) |
| Net debt | 13,181 (13,377 / 12,795) | 12,815 (13,807 / 11,864) | 12,222 (13,804 / 10,680) |
What this means. Enterprise value to normal operating profit is a valuation measure, not a dollar amount: it shows how many dollars investors pay for each dollar of the company's yearly operating profit.
What is SLB's dividend yield against its price?
The last-date range runs from $29.85 to $99.82. Today’s price is $53.06. The bear case carries 30%. The base case carries 50%. The bull case carries 20%.