SLB Limited $SLB Shares Sold by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,387,815 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 40,236 shares during the period. SLB comprises about 1.1% of Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in SLB were worth $53,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of SLB by 97.5% during the 4th 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. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in SLB in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in SLB in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC bought a new position in SLB in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SLB. Weiss Ratings raised SLB from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Argus raised SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of SLB in a report on Sunday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on SLB from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 price objective on SLB in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.95.

SLB Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SLB opened at $57.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $85.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.69. SLB Limited has a 1 year low of $31.64 and a 1 year high of $57.20.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.76 billion. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts forecast that SLB Limited will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.