Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Grows Position in SLB Limited $SLB

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 859.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 173,124 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155,071 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $5,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in SLB by 23.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 185,374,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,371,335,000 after acquiring an additional 35,057,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of SLB in the 2nd quarter valued at about $618,697,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SLB by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,233,749 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $683,901,000 after purchasing an additional 4,719,852 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 80.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,788,978 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,466,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031,906 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in SLB by 346.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,876,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $133,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,007,911 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SLB shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of SLB from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of SLB from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on SLB from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $48.00 target price on SLB in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned 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 an average price target of $52.38.

SLB Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:SLB opened at $51.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.33. SLB Limited has a one year low of $31.11 and a one year high of $52.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.68. The stock has a market cap of $77.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.73.

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

SLB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Insider Activity

In other SLB news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 61,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 155,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,730,735.60. This trade represents a 28.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Howard Guild sold 13,268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $659,419.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 22,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,627.90. The trade was a 37.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 162,402 shares of company stock worth $7,993,676 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.