14,830 Shares in SLB Limited $SLB Purchased by Royal Fund Management LLC

Royal Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 14,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $569,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. apricus wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of SLB by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 84,740 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,252,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of SLB by 3.2% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of SLB by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,380 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 12,137 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Hedges Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SLB by 0.9% during the third quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 35,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 155,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,730,735.60. This trade represents a 28.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total transaction of $201,160.00. Following the sale, the director owned 19,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,912.25. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised shares of SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of SLB from $52.30 to $56.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.16.

SLB Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $51.38 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $49.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.20 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.98. SLB Limited has a 1-year low of $31.11 and a 1-year high of $54.80.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 17.45% and a net margin of 9.45%.SLB’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

SLB 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.