SLB Limited $SLB Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP cut its position in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,143,083 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 78,271 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in SLB were worth $39,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SLB. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of SLB by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,895,318 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $65,142,000 after buying an additional 355,224 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in shares of SLB by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,796,501 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $61,820,000 after buying an additional 487,298 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in SLB by 9.9% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 839,723 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,861,000 after acquiring an additional 75,785 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in SLB by 14.8% in the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 217,150 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 27,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in SLB by 4.3% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149,870 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,120 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SLB shares. Argus raised SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Evercore set a $54.00 price target on SLB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.96.

SLB Trading Up 0.7%

SLB opened at $47.24 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.17. 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 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $52.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.68.

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

SLB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 49.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SLB news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $3,032,544.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 155,548 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,735.60. The trade was a 28.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 156,902 shares of company stock valued at $7,796,666 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.