Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 150,317,566 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 18,672,021 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of SLB worth $5,080,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in SLB by 478.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,719,476 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,994,674,000 after purchasing an additional 39,474,501 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of SLB by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,829,381 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $824,160,000 after purchasing an additional 4,300,222 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in SLB by 4.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,422,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $602,860,000 after purchasing an additional 604,832 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in SLB by 22.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,989,115 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $375,738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,203 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of SLB by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,659,177 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $320,154,000 after acquiring an additional 281,937 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stephane Biguet sold 38,447 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $1,412,927.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 175,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,607.50. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 39,727 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total transaction of $1,433,350.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 202,201 shares in the company, valued at $7,295,412.08. This represents a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 138,174 shares of company stock valued at $5,107,677 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SLB. Citigroup lifted their price objective on SLB from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of SLB from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on SLB in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.28.

SLB Stock Performance

SLB stock opened at $35.90 on Thursday. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.11 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.81. The company has a market capitalization of $53.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.97.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.02. SLB had a return on equity of 18.97% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 44.02%.

SLB Company Profile

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products.