Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys New Stake in SLB Limited $SLB

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 20,638 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,061,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Costello Asset Management INC increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 93.3% during the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 580 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SLB during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in SLB by 71.1% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 780 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in SLB by 97.5% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 798 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SLB. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of SLB from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of SLB from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of SLB from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut SLB from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.30.

SLB Price Performance

NYSE:SLB opened at $47.72 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $51.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.49. The firm has a market cap of $71.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.72. SLB Limited has a 52-week low of $31.64 and a 52-week high of $58.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. SLB had a net margin of 9.26% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. SLB’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that SLB Limited will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SLB

In related news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.33, for a total transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of SLB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.