Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in SLB Limited $SLB

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 119.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 196,513 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 106,849 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $7,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. L2 Asset Management LLC raised its stake in SLB by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 101,428 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,893,000 after purchasing an additional 20,067 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in SLB by 826.6% during the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 898,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,496,000 after purchasing an additional 801,800 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in SLB during the fourth quarter worth approximately $211,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in SLB by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,406 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306 shares during the period. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of SLB by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on SLB from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on SLB from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on SLB from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen cut SLB from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut SLB from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Three investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SLB has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.67.

SLB Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:SLB opened at $53.06 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.98. SLB Limited has a 12 month low of $31.64 and a 12 month high of $58.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.70.

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

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 51.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SLB

In other news, EVP Steve Matthew Gassen sold 53,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total value of $2,998,832.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $108,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,056.49. This trade represents a 10.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.