Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 37,161 Shares of SLB Limited $SLB

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of SLB Limited (NYSE:SLB) by 437.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,659 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,161 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SLB were worth $1,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in SLB by 100.0% during the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 80,830 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after buying an additional 40,415 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC boosted its position in SLB by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 248,057 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,526,000 after acquiring an additional 22,706 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in SLB by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 210,056 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 25,417 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of SLB by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,157,885 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,354,000 after acquiring an additional 100,918 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of SLB by 1,937.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 996,948 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 948,015 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on SLB from $47.60 to $52.30 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of SLB from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of SLB from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of SLB from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on SLB from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director La Chevardiere Patrick De sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.29, for a total value of $201,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,912.25. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Dianne B. Ralston sold 18,617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $921,541.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,097 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,092,801.50. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 162,402 shares of company stock valued at $7,993,676. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SLB Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of SLB stock opened at $51.61 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $77.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.73 and a 200 day moving average of $38.03. SLB Limited has a twelve month low of $31.11 and a twelve month high of $51.99.

SLB (NYSE:SLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. SLB had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 17.45%. The firm had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SLB Limited will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

SLB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This is an increase from SLB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. SLB’s dividend payout ratio is 48.10%.

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.