Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 9,228 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Wedbush Securities Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 28.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,543 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 9,228 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SLB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in SLB by 478.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,719,476 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,994,674,000 after buying an additional 39,474,501 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of SLB by 27.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,829,381 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $824,160,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300,222 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of SLB by 4.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,422,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $602,860,000 after acquiring an additional 604,832 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SLB by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,989,115 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $375,738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in SLB by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,659,177 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $320,154,000 after purchasing an additional 281,937 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on SLB from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Rothschild Redb upgraded SLB to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Melius Research started coverage on SLB in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Melius started coverage on shares of SLB in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SLB in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SLB currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.28.

SLB Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:SLB opened at $36.93 on Tuesday. SLB Limited has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.70.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. SLB had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 18.97%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SLB Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. SLB’s payout ratio is currently 44.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 39,727 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total value of $1,433,350.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 202,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,295,412.08. This represents a 16.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

SLB 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.