Machina Capital S.A.S. Sells 2,897 Shares of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its stake in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,622 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 2,897 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Schlumberger were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,209,014 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,808,476,000 after acquiring an additional 528,279 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,608,226 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,195,290,000 after acquiring an additional 239,966 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 12,289.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,043,359 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $500,082,000 after acquiring an additional 12,938,082 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 20.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,213,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $470,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Schlumberger by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,244,975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $316,112,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on SLB shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Schlumberger from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Schlumberger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Schlumberger in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Griffin Securities lowered Schlumberger from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.81.

Schlumberger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SLB opened at $41.36 on Friday. Schlumberger Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.52 and a fifty-two week high of $55.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $56.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.47.

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Schlumberger had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. Schlumberger’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Schlumberger Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Schlumberger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is a positive change from Schlumberger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Schlumberger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Schlumberger

In related news, VP Ugo Prechner sold 7,000 shares of Schlumberger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.20, for a total transaction of $309,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $496,808. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 43,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.96, for a total value of $1,897,357.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 235,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,331,655.04. This represents a 15.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 290,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,546,660. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Schlumberger 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.