Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 231,578 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 36,159 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in SLB were worth $8,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in SLB by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,677,257 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $57,647,000 after purchasing an additional 147,175 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in SLB by 7.9% in the third quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 461,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $15,873,000 after purchasing an additional 33,700 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in 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 valued at $126,303,000 after purchasing an additional 128,660 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of SLB during the third quarter valued at about $3,334,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of SLB by 65.0% during 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at SLB

In other SLB news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $921,056.49. This represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of SLB stock opened at $56.57 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $53.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.32. SLB Limited has a 52 week low of $31.64 and a 52 week high of $58.82. The company has a market cap of $84.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.70.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that SLB Limited will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

SLB Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. SLB’s payout ratio is presently 51.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLB. Citigroup lifted their target price on SLB from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on SLB from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on SLB from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SLB currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.74.

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.