First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in SLB Limited $SLB

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 6.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,226,322 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,329 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in SLB were worth $114,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fearnley Asset Management AS purchased a new stake in SLB during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,574,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of SLB in the 1st quarter valued at $47,528,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in SLB by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,141,868 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $126,303,000 after acquiring an additional 128,660 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in SLB by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,367,063 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $52,468,000 after acquiring an additional 447,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in SLB by 65.0% in 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 during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 transaction of $2,998,832.22. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,111.78. This represents a 52.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 10.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

SLB Stock Performance

NYSE SLB opened at $47.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.54. SLB Limited has a 12-month low of $31.64 and a 12-month high of $58.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last posted 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. SLB had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 9.26%.The firm had revenue of $8.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SLB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on SLB from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on SLB from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on SLB from $56.10 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of SLB in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of SLB from $68.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SLB presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.30.

SLB Company 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.