Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stock Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 51.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,850 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 13,500 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLB. Fearnley Asset Management AS purchased a new position in shares of SLB during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,574,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of SLB by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,141,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,303,000 after buying an additional 128,660 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of SLB in the first quarter worth $47,528,000. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,367,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $52,468,000 after acquiring an additional 447,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 65.0% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 205,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,898,000 after acquiring an additional 81,045 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total value of $108,660.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $45.09 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.72. SLB Limited has a twelve month low of $31.64 and a twelve month high of $58.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.67.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The business had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. SLB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SLB. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group decreased their price target on SLB from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on SLB from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on SLB from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of SLB in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.17.

About SLB

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.